This Mortal Coil: reviews, works, and dreamlike echoes

The Profile

This Mortal Coil is a British 4AD project curated by Ivo Watts-Russell with producer John Fryer, active from 1983 to 1991. Featuring a rotating cast from the label (including members of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and others), the collective released three albums—It'll End in Tears, Filigree & Shadow, and Blood—blending ethereal covers and atmospheric instrumentals. Their version of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren became an enduring touchstone.

Name derived from Hamlet’s soliloquy; curated by 4AD’s Ivo Watts-Russell with John Fryer; featured contributions from Elizabeth Fraser and Lisa Gerrard; known for interpretive covers such as Song to the Siren, Kangaroo, and You and Your Sister; three core albums released between 1984 and 1991.

A 4AD-curated collective shaped by Ivo Watts-Russell and John Fryer, This Mortal Coil delivers ethereal covers and instrumentals with a rotating cast. Reviews praise the dreamlike pull of Song to the Siren and the melancholic sweep of the albums, with some dissent on Filigree & Shadow’s cohesion. Key records: It'll End in Tears, Filigree & Shadow, Blood. Overall mood: nocturnal, elegant, and haunting.

Notable Quotes

❝ After the record is finished it will not seem like waking up disappointed for having forgotten a magnificent dream, made during rest, but rather we would be pleased by memories that perhaps we have forgotten over time.

❝ The thing that has always fascinated me about Song To The Siren is the fact that it unsettles me considerably.

❝ First downside: the original tracks on this album are few and, sad but true, they are vaguely ambient sound interludes.

❝ With this album, released in 1991 and perhaps slightly inferior to the first two amazing chapters, This Mortal Coil return to the shadow hidden behind the name of the supergroup: a citation from the famous monologue of Hamlet (yes, indeed "To be or not to be") in which Shakespeare evokes "this mortal coil," a metaphor for life.