COCTEAU TWINS
MILK AND KISSES
UMC/PROPER
★★★★
Milk And Kisses’ relatively harmonious inception suggested Cocteau Twins had survived the turbulence of 1993’s predecessor Four-Calendar Café. But within a year, the trio were no more. Their eighth LP, reissued on vinyl, remains a beguiling send-off, marrying Liz Fraser’s ethereal tones with Robin Guthrie’s gossamer guitars across 10 tracks. Recorded a year before his death, Jeff Buckley tribute Rilkean Heart packs an emotional punch, while the backwards-sung Violaine and operatics of Eperdu prove that few could make the unintelligible sound so profound.