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As the mesmeric guitar virtuoso of defunct Scottish band Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie’s celestial reverb merged with singer Elizabeth Fraser’s angelic ululation to create one of the most memorable sounds of the last three decades.
Guthrie’s recently released solo effort Carousel and new EP Songs To Help My Children Sleep, released digitally Monday, are keeping that ethereal head-trip alive.
A reformed “gear slut,” Guthrie still runs his guitar through an arsenal of pedals and effects to create his lush sound, but says he’s no longer as addicted to gear as he was as a young gadget freak with more cash and less shame about being a sonic slave to technology.
“I have access to a garage full of digital detritus from the last quarter of the 20th century, and I amuse myself from time to time by shaking the dust off some old 8-bit machine that once cost me thousands, delighting at the naivete that we all must have had to believe that it sounded good,” the Scottish-born but France-based Guthrie told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. “If nothing else, our ears have become highly educated in the last 25 years.
The sonic dream states he concocts these days involve more soulful exploration than can be had by the mere twiddling of knobs.
“I’m 47 years old and was born into the analog age,” he said. “I remember the term ‘digital’ when it existed only notionally. I lost the early adopter attitude when I ceased to have loads of disposable income, and now a sort of inverted snobbery has crept into my being where I pride myself on using the humblest of things to make my music. I’ve come a long way from being the young gear slut who was precious about so many pieces of equipment. I’ve become more confident in my own ability to use what is at hand to express myself.”
LISTEN: “Waiting By the Carousel” by Robin Guthrie
That currently does not include the social networking tools that have helped lesser bands build bigger followings. While the easiest place to get hold of Guthrie is his official website, that and a MySpace page are about as far as he will go to keep his loyalists happy.
“While I embrace the idea of social networking in some sense, I don’t really need to let folks know when I’m buying a pair of shoes, nor am I really interested when my phone bleeps and I’m made aware that some acquaintance is having lunch,” he complained. “It is lunchtime — of course they’re having fucking lunch.”
Since hypnotizing fans of synethesia starting in the early ’80s with the Cocteau Twins, the guitarist’s sound has spread beyond music to film, compelling creative types as different as My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields and director David Lynch to let their gauzy freak flags fly.
Lately, Guthrie’s lent his signature sonics to spaced-out soundtracks for arty films like Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin and Dany Saadia’s 3:19.
“Suddenly, I am able to use the skills that I’ve been honing for 30 years in a different context, which is a far cry from the self-indulgence that I usually afford myself while composing,” Guthrie said.
Meanwhile, the Cocteau Twins’ music has shown up in popcorn blockbusters like The Crow and Judge Dredd. Most of Lynch’s works after The Elephant Man, especially his groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks, have borrowed Guthrie’s sound to help create their phantasmagoric surrealism.
Why isn’t Guthrie soundtracking more himself?
“The film and TV industries seem geared towards paying exorbitant sums for the usage of existing music while undervaluing original works,” he said. “I’d love to do more soundtracks, but sadly I seem to exist under the Hollywood radar.”
Guthrie has scratched his visual itch by creating his own animated films, which he sometimes screens during his live performances. And he’s keeping his musical streak alive with a slew of solo full-lengths and EPs, as well as production work for bands like The Duke Spirit.
One thing that’s probably not in the cards, though: a Cocteau Twins reunion.
“I don’t feel very motivated in that direction,” Guthrie said. “Perhaps I would, if I felt that it wasn’t a backward move. But I’m put off by seeing old bands churning out the one half-decent album they made all those years ago to a public unwilling to move with the times and accept that some artists actually carry on long after it has lost interest.”
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