Treasure - Cocteau Twins (1984)
This is the kind of music that’s easy to wax poetic about: A beautiful silvery cloud of gorgeous melody and atmosphere that never stops surprising.
It wasn’t all that uncommon to use drum machines in pop music by 1984, but it was unusual to make something so organic and natural sounding with programmed drums underneath. The band resists the urge to go full Gary Numan and make the whole thing a sharp and shiny alien landscape of electronics (I’m obviously not opposed to sharp and shiny alien landscapes, but the technology of the time made it clunky) by keeping acoustic guitars and organic vocals in the front of the mix.
Thi band didn’t spend a long time in the spotlight, but this is a record that proves they belonged there.
Tracks I Liked
Ivo - A great lead track that invites us in with swirling guitars and synths
Beatrix - barouque at its core, complete with what sounds like a harpsichord
Persephone - after the soft landing of Beatrix, this is a sharp right turn into some fantastically jagged goth rock
Cicely - this one still sounds very modern to my ear. The vocal runs through several transitions and the bass and drums keep pace in great fashion
