About

The Moon and the Melodies is a collaborative studio album by Scottish dream pop band Cocteau Twins and American minimalist composer Harold Budd. The album was released under the names of each contributor: Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser, and Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, and Budd. But in the decades since its initial release, The Moon and the Melodies is now considered part of the Cocteau Twins catalog, and one of the band’s best. 

The Moon and the Melodies hears the Cocteau Twins at their most ambient, and Budd at his most dream pop-leaning. Initially, the idea for a collaborative release came about after Simon Raymonde got in touch with Harold asking if he cover ‘Not Yet Remembered’ from Brian Eno and Budd’s Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, a record which alongside the first in the Ambient series—Music for Airports—helped in pushing ambient music into public consciousness.

Despite Budd being completely unfamiliar with the Cocteau Twins before Raymonde gave him a bell, the chemistry between the two parties is evident, seamless almost. The Moon and the Melodies is a singular record in both artist’s catalogues, a collection equal parts instrumental ambient and the Cocteau’s typical ethereal wave. We hear glacial instrumentals played under Budd’s improvisations, which are occasionally punctuated by the gorgeous, inimitable vocals of Elizabeth Fraser. We’re in Cocteau Twins territory here, so needless to say it’s an atmosphere-steeped record, one which will cue vivid pictures or personal memories from each of its listeners with its blissful, evocative sound.

The Moon and the Melodies was arguably the most divergent release in the Cocteau’s catalogue before the shoegaze-leaning Heaven or Las Vegas cropped up four years later. They’d never really revisit the ambient soundscaping witnessed here, instead ploughing a more guitar-based, somewhat rock-ier sound, though Budd would later collaborate with Robin Guthrie on the score to Gregg Araki’s drama film Mysterious Skin. It also split the crowd in their fanbase, but those who liked it, really loved it, with some championing it as their magnum-opus. — (via Norman Records)

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Label: 4AD
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Optimal Media Pressing
Country: Worldwide
Reissued: 2024 / Original Release: 1986
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Ethereal, Ambient

File under: Alternative / Indie / Rock
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