JULEE CRUISE
Fall Float Love (Works 1989–1993)
Cruise: a reverb-laden voice that glides and hovers
CHERRY RED
8/10
Touchstones in the development of dream-pop from Cruise, Lynch and Badalamenti. By Ana Gavrilovska
THE ethereal voice of Julee Cruise is as essential to the world of Twin Peaks as cherry pie and Dale Cooper’s dreams, yet we may have never heard it if visionary director David Lynch had had more funds. He wanted to include This Mortal Coil’s cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song To The Siren” in Blue Velvet, but couldn’t afford the rights. Composer Angelo Badalamenti, who would soon become Lynch’s go-to for the rest of their careers, was tasked with writing an original piece of music for the movie instead, and given little instruction beyond the phrase “mysteries of love” (its eventual title) and an idea that the song should “float on the sea of time”, with Elizabeth Fraser’s voice in mind. Badalamenti had just met Cruise at a theatre workshop, so he brought her in. The result is a uniquely incandescent piece of music, shimmering poetry animated by Cruise’s vertiginously angelic voice. Blue Velvet is unimaginable without it.