"Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" by Cocteau Twins

It's May...

Here is "Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" by Cocteau Twins (previously here).

https://cocteautwins.com/

Happy Winter Solstice 2025!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.

Welcome back Sol Invictus.

Happy Winter Solstice 2024!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.

Welcome back Sol Invictus.

Happy Winter Solstice 2023!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.

Welcome back Sol Invictus.

Happy Winter Solstice 2022!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.
Welcome back Sol Invictus.

"Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" by Cocteau Twins

It's May...

Here is "Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" by Cocteau Twins (previously here).

https://cocteautwins.com/

Ristorante Grotta Palazzese

Today I am yearning to dine at the magical Ristorante Grotta Palazzese located below the specatcular Hotel Grotta Palazzese, in Polignano a Mare, Puglia, Italy. Situated on the Adriatic Sea, the restaurant is set up during the warm summer months inside a vaulted limestone cave, looking outwards toward the sea. Just...wow...

https://www.grottapalazzese.it/

Happy Winter Solstice 2021!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.
Welcome back Sol Invictus.

BEAUTY: Photography--Kilian Schönberger

The sun cuts through forests of fog and haze in the stunning work of German photographer Kilian Schönberger. These hushed, spiritual images feel like they are moments from magical stories or fairytales...

http://www.kilianschoenberger.de/

"Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" by Cocteau Twins

It's May...

Here is "Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" by Cocteau Twins (previously here).

https://cocteautwins.com/

Happy Winter Solstice 2020!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.
Welcome back Sol Invictus.

Happy Winter Solstice 2020!

The Lights 2019

Happy Winter Solstice 2019!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.

Happy Winter Solstice 2019!

Happy Winter Solstice 2018!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere.

Happy Winter Solstice 2018!

Happy Winter Solstice 2017!

Today is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the sun begins its return to the northern hemisphere. Welcome back Sol Invictus!

BEAUTY: Painting--Josie Morway

Sic transit gloria mundi ("Worldly things are fleeting") announces the enigmatic work of Josie Morway. Part photo realism and part homage to Old World Masters, her narratives feature animals in all their innate nobility with Latin phrases such as "Fortune joined with bravery in undisguised, uncorrupted faith," "He who guards, doesn't sleep," "I follow higher things," and "No herb grows in the gardens against the power of death." This combination makes me think of familiars, totems, spirit animals, and magic.

http://www.josiemorway.com/

"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

The Lights, The Lights