Filigree & shadow...
This Mortal Coil is a concept-project orchestrated by Ivo Watts-Russell, best known for being the founder in 1980 of the famous English music label 4AD, a label that will produce several of the most outstanding groups of the 1980s on the English side.
He will involve in this project many groups of the label, starting with Modern English. But also the Cocteau Twins, Cindytalk, Dead Can Dance among others.
In 1983, the mini-album “Sixteen days/Gathering dust” was released, the flagship title of which was to be “Song to the siren”, a track with absolutely hallucinatory lyricism, sublimated by an Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins at the height of her art.
Building on this success, a new album "It'll end in tears" was released a year later in 1984. Album which in turn was successful and which was to produce a new notorious hit with the title "Kangaroo" on which we find this time Gordon Sharp and Simon Raymonde.
Another success two years later in 1986 with the album "Filigree & shadow", album which will still struggle to produce a major hit.
A last album "Blood" was released the following decade in 1991. But this one met with only mixed success and closed the This Mortal Coil page for good.
To discover or rediscover.
Discography (among others ...) :
Song to the siren 1983
Fond affections 1984
Kangaroo 1984
Dreams made flesh 1984
Meniscus 1986
Come here my love 1986
My father 1986
Mr Somewhere 1991
You and your sister 1991
Clips :
1983 ... the WONDER of WONDERS. A hallucinating song carried by a sublimated voice. An Elisabeth Frazer inspired by the Gods, let's not be afraid of words ! The whole on a luxury cover of a title of Tim Bickley dating from 1970. Here we touch the MASTERPIECE !
1984 ... a hallucinating succession of titles with extraordinary inspiration. This one will not have the same level of impact as its predecessor but the level is almost equivalent !
1984 ... each title is incredibly lyric and almost extra-terrestrial inspiration. A remarkable concept-project which would have really deserved a global recognition much higher than it was
1984 ... each group sublimates its title in its own way. This time, it's the Dead Can Dance's turn to work miracles. And the result is up to par, necessarily and far beyond what we could originally imagine. We expected no less from them !
1986 ... titles which literally float in the air and which transport us to imaginary lands that we never even suspected. We can almost speak of magic, quite simply ...
1986 ... each title is unique and highly inspired. An extreme compendium of what was best at the time in this particular area of Darkwave ...
1986 ... all the titles are in the same mode, namely the Intimist register. A constant which will have really made of this ephemeral group a unique model of its kind !
1991 ... the continuation, and especially the change of decade, will change the situation somewhat. And not necessarily in a good way unfortunately ...
1991 ... it's nice, of course, but nothing more. The transition with the 90s has somewhat annihilated all the magical side that made this adventure a truly unique phenomenon. Pity...
Wiki :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Mortal_Coil
Official Website :
https://www.4ad.com/artists/thismortalcoil
Greatest Hits :
https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/2008
Discography :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ReCHThuiP6RdtFfCf_Slw/featured