Blue Bell Knoll is the same Cocteau Twins with a different sound. Monotone, atmospheric, midtempo dream pop with Robin Guthrie‘s guitar chords bending around Liz Fraser’s omnipresent multi-tracked indecipherable wails and chants. Also there’s a bass guitar in there somewhere, but you could’ve fooled me.

The tone of the day is: ice. And what a tone it is. Guthrie’s guitar has never sounded so shimmering and cold. I practically felt my room temperature drop 20 degrees while I was listening to Blue Bell Knoll. Fraser’s vocals remain high-pitched and airy, the light reflecting off of the ice on a cold winter’s morning.

As usual, Cocteau Twins get away with repetitive songwriting by having a short album that doesn’t last long enough to get really tiring. By being so good at the tone they set, they still render the majority of their countless clones also trying to get by on sound alone (instead of distinguishable songs) irrelevant.

This is the album companion piece to their Snow EP, and I recommend both to you if you’re looking for music to match the winter season.