Cocteau Twins
Four-Calendar Cafe
(Capitol) (STAR)(STAR)
The joke used to be that if you’d heard one Cocteau Twins song, you’d heard them all. But the reality is something else: Over the past decade the band has refined its blend of vaporous melodies, gossamer guitar textures and dancing-on-air vocals, and recent albums such as “Heaven or Las Vegas” were full of minor pop epiphanies. On “Four-Calendar Cafe,” singer Elizabeth Fraser is enunciating more clearly than ever, and longtime fans may be surprised to find that she’s actually singing in English, brooding or rejoicing over a relationship. But if the lyrics are no longer otherworldly, the voice still is. The problem is that it’s wrapped in New Age wallpaper. There are moments where the music gives the senses a sonic sponge bath, but the lazy arrangements are uniformly tranquil. In place of the pop cathedrals built on recent albums is the sound of a singular British band dozing in the back pew.
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Ratings: Excellent (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Good (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Fair (STAR)(STAR) Poor (STAR)
