"Ivo" by Cocteau Twins

It's hard to believe that this track is 30 years old. I remember when this came out...a friend of mine had a seaside cabin in the Northern California coastal area of Mendocino, and we went up to spend a weekend. We left the Bay Area rather late at night, and as we drove through the redwoods, I lay in the backseat, watching the towering trees pass us in the spray of lights from the front of the car. She put in a cassette of "Treasure" by Cocteau Twins, and of course the album starts with this incredibly unique, shimmering, breathtaking track called "Ivo." Rocking from side to side on the twisting road in my half-dream of darkness and trees, the song washed over me. Where did this miraculous sound come from, we all wondered then--not pop, not rock, not anything familiar.

And I think we still wonder...

Their former label 4AD says, "When they first emerged in the early 80s, the Cocteau Twins were compared most often to Siouxsie & The Banshees, but in truth they never sounded like anyone – or anything – else. Taken together, their nine albums, and sixteen EPs/singles, sound less like a band and more like an element of nature."

Yes, an element of nature... yes.

http://www.cocteautwins.com/
http://4ad.com/artists/cocteautwins