The Depths · All albums

The Moon and the Melodies

Harold Budd / Cocteau Twins · 1986

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 2, Complexity 2 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Electronic, Dream pop
• Mood: luminous, drifting, weightless
• Sound: ambient piano, shimmering guitar, wordless vocals, collaborative record

The Moon and the Melodies is a collaboration between the Cocteau Twins and the pianist Harold Budd, released by 4AD on 10 November 1986. It is mostly instrumental, with Budd's minimal piano, reverb and sustain set against Robin Guthrie's shimmering guitars, Simon Raymonde's bass and Richard Thomas' saxophone, and Elizabeth Fraser sings on four of the eight tracks. It grew out of a proposed TV series about cross-genre collaborations that was never made. Budd was known for his ambient work with Brian Eno and had not worked with pop musicians before.

Track list

1. Sea, Swallow Me (3:09)
2. Memory Gongs (7:27)
3. Why Do You Love Me? (4:51)
4. Eyes Are Mosaics (4:09)
5. She Will Destroy You (4:17)
6. The Ghost Has No Home (7:35)
7. Bloody and Blunt (2:13)
8. Ooze Out and Away, Onehow (3:41)