By Keith Walsh
Some may prefer newer categories to describe some ambient music, such as shoegaze, dreampop, or post-rock, and perhaps the word ‘ambient’ is, by now, too vague. All of these phrases describe Robin Guthrie’s recent LP Pearldiving. The Cocteau Twins’ founder has been quite active lately, including two EP releases in 2021 and this, his first full length release in nine years, recorded at his studio in Brittany, France.
Pearldiving is a mellow album, awash in reflective moods somewhat different from the pop-flavored offerings of Cocteau Twins. In recent years, Guthrie has been described as painting with sound, and indeed his works are sonic canvases filled with evocative tone colors, portraying textures of light and dark. With Pearldiving (as before), sometimes it’s difficult to know if an instrument is a synth or a guitar effected with reverse reverb, delay, or both (“Ivy,” “Kerosine”).
The compositions are carefully composed and orchestrated, with predecessors being work by Guthrie collaborator (the late) Harold Budd and Brian Eno’s Music For Airports, especially on more abstract tunes (“Ouestern,””Kerosine.”) Still, more often than not melody and rhythm come to dominate before too long. As one might expect, guitar sounds, and indeed, entire tracks, (“Euphemia,” “Presence,” “The Amber Room”) are frequently similar in vibe as those found in mid-career Cocteau Twins tunes. And in the same way that Elizabeth Fraser’s vocal work with Cocteau Twins flirted with ambiguity, on the fully instrumental Pearldiving, the slight melodies and laid back rhythms invite the listener to assign their own meanings.
The album is not inscrutable, however. The overall texture is far warmer and lovelier than the often too cold soundscapes of ambient music. Guitar is prominent, as is to be expected, as the electric guitar is Guthrie’s preferred instrument going back to the Cocteau Twins, who disbanded in 1997. The guitar sounds on Pearldiving are pristine, frequently clean, almost acoustic, eschewing the overdrive of Guthrie’s CT work, for the most part. He knows his way around the studio, having recorded and produced every sound on the album. On rare occasion, piano, drum machine, synth bass (employed subtly) and some form of xylophone (one imagines an emulation) show up as well. Pearldiving is a fully electric album, one that conceals its pedigree beautifully.
It’s a suitably warm and gentle album that I imagine addresses the cold of winter by patiently warming the heart of the listener with its stunning beauty. To mark his 60th birthday, Guthrie has just released his Springtime EP, an equally lovely album which I look forward to reviewing soon, before the thaws of March.
(Photo portrait by Violette Guthrie)
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