Released in 1986, The Moon and the Melodies is the product of a one-off collaboration between the Scottish group Cocteau Twins and the American composer Harold Budd.
The album has the characteristic style — heavily-treated guitar sounds and euphoric vocalising — that can be heard in the group's other work from the same period, for example on the EP "Echoes in a Shallow Bay" or the album Victorialand. Harold Budd's stylistic piano tonalities and phrasing on this project are echoed in his solo album, Lovely Thunder, from the same year.
The phrases "bloody and blunt" and "ooze out and away, onehow" come from Elizabeth Fraser's lyrics on the songs 'The Tinderbox (Of a Heart)' and 'My Love Paramour', both from the 1983 Cocteau Twins album Head Over Heels. Reusing phrases from old songs as titles for others can be considered one of Fraser's signature characteristics, as can her habit of emphasizing syllables in ways that differ from standard usage.
Tracklisting
1. Sea, Swallow Me
2. Memory Gongs
3. Why Do You Love Me?
4. Eyes are Mosaics
5. She Will Destroy You
6. The Ghost Has No Home
7. Bloody and Blunt
8. Ooze Out and Away, Onehow