“Fotzepolitic” by Cocteau Twins

With a foot of snow outside and the trees frosted grey, I thought I’d share one of my all-time favorite songs from one of my all-time favorite bands.

The Cocteau Twins were formed in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1979. After taking influence from Kate Bush and Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as the flourishing post punk scene around them, guitarist Robin Guthrie, Bassist Will Heggie, vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and their Roland TR-808 drum machine helped transform the modern musical landscape forever. 

“Fotzepolitic” is from their sixth studio album Heaven or Las Vegas. It was released in September of 1990 and was their last on 4AD. I fondly remember a particular long bus ride to Canada for a high school basketball game, and while my teammates were rocking out to Motley Crue and Warrant on their Walkmans, I was being called into the snowdrifts by the wintery siren’s otherworldly vocals.

Three years later, I was able to meet Robin Guthrie backstage after their performance at the Rivera Theater. This meeting was arranged by a mutual contact by a record label that was courting the band I was playing with. She felt he would be the perfect music producer for us. I never heard back from him and two years later the Cocteau Twins broke up. I always wondered if he ever had a chance to listen to our tape, or if he left it in the club alongside the rest of their uneaten pizza.