Do you remember the enormous impact music had on you as a teenager and the intensity of the emotions involved? I remember well 1998, when I found out The Doors. I remember well 2002, when I found out Joy Division. The world opened up to me like a great abyss that would look back at me. It was as scary as it was fascinating. I could describe endless moments like these with nostalgia, especially now, when there have been weeks since I couldn’t allow myself to feel raptured by music.
It was so frustrating that I would eventually give up skipping songs. It happened before, but nothing serious enough that going back to Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting” wouldn’t solve. Not this time. It was a kind of musical numbness I couldn’t escape. I was beginning to worry until I revisited Cocteau Twins – “Theft, and Wandering Around Lost”. It was like a first musical encounter, although I’ve known them for many years. The ethereal voice of Elizabeth Fraser made me climb again that ivory tower where all sounds feel superb. Her voice is as disturbing as it is soothing; their music is as melancholic as joyful. And that was all I needed. To marvel at something so beautiful, that would bring me to tears!
Ariadne Revisited 