LP, Reissue, Remastered
4AD (2024) US
Released in March 1996, Milk & Kisses is the eighth and final studio album by Cocteau Twins. And like its predecessor, 1993's Four-Calendar Café, it's yet to be formally released on vinyl outside Europe. That all changes in January 2024 when 4AD will reissue both titles in the United States.
The second of two albums Cocteau Twins released via Fontana / Capitol Records after their long association with 4AD ended in 1990 with Heaven or Las Vegas, the band warmed the waters for Milk & Kisses with a pair of exceptional EPs where they took their music to new places, Twinlights and Otherness - the first largely acoustic, the second their only sanctioned remixes (done with Seefeel's Mark Clifford).
A period of high creativity for the band, renewed after a turbulent time, they recorded and produced Milk & Kisses between their September Sound studio in London and the coastal town of Pors Poulhan in Brittany, France. Featuring the singles "Tishbite" and "Violaine" and fan favorites such as "Serpentskirt" and "Treasure Hiding," the album is a cathartic listen, too, with MOJO saying in a glowing review that the album's title "accurately intimates its soothing, healing powers." Ultimately, Milk & Kisses also proved to be their swan song, bringing the curtain down on 14 years of wonder to leave an incredible legacy that new generations continue to discover to this day.
For the Four-Calendar Café and Milk & Kisses reissues, Robin Guthrie returned to his original studio mixes and has delivered stunning, brand-new 24-bit masters of both titles.