For aficionados of shoegaze and dream pop and indeed any serious lover of music, Robin Guthrie needs no introduction. Driving force behind the iconic Cocteau Twins of course, Guthrie has continued to make a significant contribution to the industry, having formed Violet Indiana with Siobhan de Maré (formerly of Mono) and has since focused on creating instrumental music, while also releasing collaborative albums with Harold Budd, John Foxx (Ultravox) and Mark Gardener (Ride).
Apart from the film scores for Gregg Araki’s ‘Mysterious Skin’ and ‘White Bird In a Blizzard’, which were co-written with Harold Budd, Guthrie has also scored the film ‘3:19’, Kaboom and the TV series ‘Now Apocalypse’ and more recently, Guthrie produced and mixed the new Heligoland album ‘This Quiet Fire’, as well as creating remixes for artists such as Hatchie, Fawns of Love, Resplandor, Ummagma, Ulrich Schnauss and Tamaryn at his studio in France.
Guthrie has just released a gorgeous shimmering instrumental entitled ‘My Courtesan’ ahead of the release of a new solo album ‘Mockingbird Love’. ‘My Courtesan’ bodes well for the future release: it is an immersive, glowing piece of music that literally shimmers and glows in the trademark Guthrie fashion: razor sharp crystalline guitars reverberate with an enigmatic shimmer across a dreamy wash of synths. The layers build up like billowing clouds:
Guthrie says of his current work:
Of late I’ve been very focused on my instrumental music, which is increasingly an intense endeavour, all the more so as I don’t really share it with anyone. So here I am, finally, with some words about my next releases. ‘Mockingbird Love’, a four track EP, is the first small collection of music that I have felt comfortable to release for a while. This is my October release. ‘Mockingbird Love’ is concise, to the point, with a big sound and baritone guitars. But it’s just an appetizer as my November release and subsequent December releases will show. I have everything in production now and, hmmm, what could go wrong?
You can preorder the EP through the link below:
