Cocteau Twins
Tiny Dynamine

THE REVIEW

Tiny Dynamine fits perfectly between Treasure and Victorialand.

Raymonde had not yet left the Scottish ensemble for This Mortal Coil, and the work emanating from this 1985 EP is rather unique.

Pink Orange Red is undoubtedly one of the peaks of Cocteau Twins, with its sweetly reverberated chords and that sound that embraces the listener but at the same time abandons them in an empty room. Cocteau Twins build something by borrowing the sampled drums beloved in Treasure and already anticipating sounds that would be further explored in Victorialand. Between angelic warblings and sweet choruses, Cocteau Twins navigate this EP, ranging between instrumental tracks and extreme pop raids that anticipate what will happen a few years later, already with Blue Bell Knoll.

A rather singular parenthesis is the instrumental Ribbed and Veined, which anticipates some sounds of The Moon and The Melodies but unfortunately suffers from monotony and banality in its overly '80s arrangements. The second half of the EP, however, is composed of two pop tracks that still do justice to the Scottish ensemble and manage at times to blend traces of New Wave and Dream Pop whispers. Elizabeth Fraser continues her always very interesting vocal experiments, playing with the duality of her voice; at times, it seems like listening to two different voices, one trying to emerge dominantly and another that will tame the other thanks to its sweet and introspective side. Whatever one listens to from Cocteau Twins, it is always an experience for the listener, and Fraser's voice in its indecipherability enchants the listener, lulling them into a sweet journey as it happens in Plain Tiger with her sweet and silent words of love and in Sultitan Itan where, thanks to a good pop base, Fraser plays and jokes with her vocal cords pedantically, creating one of the most interesting pop choruses of the Scottish ensemble.

Tiny Dynamine thus presents itself in its entirety as a very interesting EP, especially for understanding the future dynamics of the Scottish ensemble, but it does not shine across all 4 tracks it presents, with Pink Orange Red undoubtedly remaining the peak of the EP as well as one of the ensemble's most beautiful tracks.