Victorialand

Studio album by Cocteau Twins

Released

14 April 1986

Recorded

1985

Genre

Dream pop, ethereal wave

Length

32:45

Label

4AD

Producer

Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins chronology

The Pink Opaque
(1986)

Victorialand
(1986)

Love's Easy Tears
(1986)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Martin C. Strong	(8/10)
Record-Journal	(B-)

Victorialand is the fourth album by Scottish band Cocteau Twins, released by 4AD in April 1986. Working without member Simon Raymonde, who had been enlisted to collaborate on This Mortal Coil's Filigree & Shadow album, vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and guitarist/producer Robin Guthrie produced a record almost completely devoid of percussion, drenching acoustic guitars in reverberant space to create a wide, expansive sound that bordered on ambient.

The album title referred to the part of Antarctica known as Victoria Land, after Queen Victoria (and forming the British claim to the continent, currently dormant under international treaty). As was often the case with Fraser's vocals, the lyrics are indecipherable. The titles of each track were borrowed from passages on the Arctic and Antarctic in David Attenborough's The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth, the accompanying book to his 1984 BBC nature documentary series The Living Planet.

On its initial release in the UK, the vinyl edition was a 12" disc which played at 45 rpm, which would be normal for an EP rather than a full album, which would normally play at 33⅓ rpm. This was due to difficulties in the mastering process in reproducing the minimal soundscapes. Some test pressings at 33⅓ rpm are known to exist.

An uncredited instrumental version of "Oomingmak" was used as a backing track for the credits at the end of the 4AD compilation video Lonely Is an Eyesore. This instrumental version was later made available on the band's 1991 4AD singles box set.

All songs written by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie.

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Wikipedia