Review Summary: more like 3.5 calendar cafe lmao gottem
By 1993, Cocteau Twins had nothing left to prove.
Heaven or Las Vegas, the band’s 1990 effort, was rightfully crowned a masterpiece of dream pop upon its release, a glimmering ocean of sound and ethereal atmosphere narrated by the angelic croons of Liz Fraser. While
Heaven or Las Vegas is the triumph Cocteau Twins are most remembered for in the present, they had also been steadily crafting their signature sound throughout the majority of the 1980s, resulting in stellar records like the borderline ambient
Victorialand and the celestial
Treasure (maligned by the band, adored by the fans). Their watershed entrance into a new decade was simply the icing on the cake; they had long been peerless in the dream pop scene, but the tour de force that was
Heaven or Las Vegas cemented Cocteau Twins as an all-time great act that still influences the worlds of indie rock, dream pop, and shoegaze 30 years down the line.
So where the hell do you go from there?
Four-Calendar Cafe is an admirable record because of its subtlety. At no point does it attempt to reinvent the wheel of the bands’ sound, instead opting to include little tweaks that give textbook Cocteau Twins moments a new and exciting flavor. This is apparent from the opening seconds of “Know Who You Are At Every Age”, a spacey midtempo number sprinkled with Latin-tinged percussion and surprisingly prominent background vocals from Robin Guthrie. It’s a great track and encouraging start to the record, but it’s immediately one-upped by the show-stopping “Evangeline”, one of the most stunning songs in the band’s catalog. The dense layers of Fraser’s vocals and reverb-drenched guitars build a wall of sound that is somehow pillowy and crushing at the same time, before unfolding into maybe the most tasteful key change I’ve ever heard. Masterful songwriting is all about getting from point A to point B in the strongest way possible, and they couldn’t have stuck the landing any better on this track.
Unfortunately, the album quickly begins to meander from a songwriting perspective, which is discouraging after such a strong first act. “Bluebeard” is another highlight, reminiscent of the more uptempo tunes from
Heaven or Las Vegas or
Blue Bell Knoll, but it’s the slower, more contemplative moments that don’t quite meet the mark here. It’s a sound and style that the band has nailed many times before;
Victorialand’s opener “Lazy Calm” might just be their best song, period. However,
Four-Calendar Cafe’s slower tunes have almost none of what makes that song so compelling. Returning to the aforementioned ‘point A to point B’ argument, “My Truth” is all point A, and listening to it quickly turns into a chore because of this. “Essence” doesn’t fare much better, but at least has some semblance of forward motion. “Oil of Angels” shows promise, but Fraser’s “Psycho Killer”-style repetition of the same syllable becomes an annoyance about 25% into the track’s runtime. Luckily, the album rebounds in its final moments with “Pur”, another classic Cocteau Twins jam with a wide dynamic range and gripping trajectory.
Four-Calendar Cafe was never going to measure up to
Heaven or Las Vegas, and to Cocteau Twins’ credit, it doesn’t feel like they were even trying to accomplish this. It’s simply a collection of songs that the band loved and wanted to share, opening on extremely strong footing, only to falter a bit in the second half. In its worst moments, it feels airy and inconsequential, but it’s beauty defined at its best, like all great works by the Twins are. It’s an album that’s often forgotten about due to its place in the band’s timeline, but the handful of hidden gems within make it more than worth listening to.
