Milk & Kisses / Four Calendar Cafe
Albums will ship around January 12, 2024.
For the reissues, Robin Guthrie has returned to his original studio mixes and delivered stunning, brand new 24-bit masters of both titles. These reissues mark the first ever official US vinyl release for both titles and also the first time either have been released by 4AD, with both having previously been released in the US on Capitol Records.
Having just turned 30, Four-Calendar Café, was the first of two Cocteau Twins albums previously released via Capitol Records in the US.
Like most Cocteau Twins works before it, Four-Calendar Café was recorded and produced by the band, this time at their September Sound studio on the banks of the Thames in West London. A beautiful yet bittersweet record featuring the singles “Bluebeard”, “Evangeline” and “Summerhead”, the band manifest maturity and fragility in equal measure and while Liz’s lyrics remain cryptic, they’re more intelligible here. Complete with a memorable design of inanimate objects by the I Spy children’s book creator Walter Wick, Four-Calendar Café still stands tall going into its fourth decade.
Milk & Kisses is the band’s eighth and final studio album, the second of two Cocteau Twins albums previously released via Capitol Records in the US.
A period of high creativity for the band, 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 proved 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.
