The first time I heard Elisabeth Freser’s unique voice was in the early 80’s while lying on the floor of a friend’s bedroom flipping through pages of Star Hits. I remember that it made me pause my latest search for Duran Duran pin-ups and ask “who is this?”; from that point on I was hooked on the Cocteau Twins, and fascinated by Elisabeth’s ethereal voice. In 1992, my beautiful daughter Julia was born, one of her middle names chosen after Elisabeth, a favorite singer of both her father’s and mine. I saw the Cocteau Twins play live around the time of this album, Four-Calendar Cafe.

I remember sitting towards the back of the Wiltern theatre feeling the music swirl around Jill and I, as we held hands and held our breath; we were both so swept up in the sound. This song reminds me of Jill’s small hands, and the way she always smelled of cloves and peppermint candies. Music soothed a lot of sting between us, in those moments where we let ourselves just get wrapped up in the melodies, and just be okay together.

Bluebeard :: Cocteau Twins