artist: This Mortal Coil country of origin: UK style(s): Gothic pop, ambient pop, art rock essential releases: Filigree And Shadow (1986, 4AD)

This British “band” was actually a changeable line-up of musicians masterminded by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of alternative pop/rock label 4AD. The label’s offerings are extremely eclectic and its best known artist The Cocteau Twins has produced some fine ambient pop. The music of This Mortal Coil is sometimes wordless or purely instrumental, and casts an ethereal spell that recalls the ambient pop records of Brian Eno and the moody songs of 4AD stablemates Dead Can Dance.

Filigree And Shadow is the 2nd of three albums and captures Ivo and company at their most imaginative: a seamless 74 minutes of surreal, gothic-flavoured songs and instrumentals shrouded in a light, seductive ambient fog. Brooding and fragile, the individual pieces are strung together with an unsettling, dream-like logic. Featured instruments include synthesisers, piano, saxophone and sound effects, and a string quartet lends the music a distinctively English ambience. Drums and electric guitar also make an appearance though not at the expense of the album’s introspective mood. A classic.

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