Cocteau Twins seem to possess a real knack for producing music that is imbued with an oddly supernatural characteristic as well as a sound that is quite unlike any of their contemporaries. Heaven Or Las Vegas is no exception to this statement and is one beautiful composition after another. These pieces of music combine to form an album that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. This is the audio equivalent of traveling to another beautiful place and relaxing there for the duration. Cherry Colored Funk opens this amazing work with tones that are melodic and almost poignantly powerful to one’s heartstrings. Pitch the Baby sends one into an equally hypnotic but faster-paced reverie with a crafted magic all its own. Iceblink Luck and Fifty-fifty Clown serve as another remarkable combination of songs that speak to one on both sensual and aesthetic levels. These are followed by the title track which serves well to take hold of one’s consciousness in an almost balladic modality and still leave the spirit wanting. There is satisfaction for this yearning in the beautiful and almost druidic cadence of I Wear Your Ring. Fotzepolitic is possessed of an almost Balearic beauty of melodic bliss and segues into Wolf In The Breast and its natural rise and fall that seem to belie the very title in a most beguiling way. Road, River and Rail commences as an all too brief but beautifully woven tapestry of music and vocal mastery with an elusively captivating story line. The closing track entitled Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires paints a compelling portrait of a musical painting and conscience of mysticism constructed intricately of the incredible vocal layers that comprise it. This album is an artistic compilation of music and emotive beauty that are seldom concentrated in one locale and it is definitely a delight worthy of an audience.
