This Mortal Coil

This Mortal Coil is a project of Ivo Watts-Russell, president of the British 4AD record label, begun in 1983. Because it features members of other recording groups, This Mortal Coil (TMC) is an example of a supergroup. The records consist mostly of dark and moody interpretative cover versions of a wide variety of artists ranging from Big Star to The Apartments and Tim Buckley. A number of tracks from the first TMC album, It'll End In Tears, feature vocals by Elizabeth Fraser of the Scottish group The Cocteau Twins, who also released music on 4AD. One of these tracks in particular has gone down in anecdotal history: an ethereal cover of Tim Buckley's Song to the Siren. The song eventually led to Fraser's relationship with Jeff Buckley, Tim Buckley's estranged son, having earlier caught his attention. The recording was also used by David Lynch for the 1996 film, Lost Highway, first as very quiet incidental music and then as an accompaniment to the film's climactic love scene. The track is, however, not included on the soundtrack album for the movie. In 1998 Watts-Russell put together another record very much in the style and format of TMC, and using many of the same musicians, such as John Fryer and Louise Rutkowski. The band's name had become The Hope Blister and the album's title, ...smile's OK.

Related Topics:
Ivo Watts-Russell - 4AD - 1983 - Big Star - The Apartments - Tim Buckley - Scottish - The Cocteau Twins - Jeff Buckley - David Lynch - 1996 - Lost Highway - Love scene - 1998 - John Fryer - Louise Rutkowski - The Hope Blister

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