Robin Guthrie is one of the most distinctive guitarists of his generation. As a founding member of The Cocteau Twins, his innovative sound – coupled with Liz Frazer’s unique vocals – made them one of the most acclaimed cult bands of recent years. James Everard met him to discuss his diverse artistic approach.
For such a celebrated figure, Robin Guthrie has remarkable humility. His softly spoken Scottish accent and disarming honesty are immediately endearing. “I don’t consider myself to be a musician. I can’t really play, can’t read music. I can’t play with any guitar unless it’s plugged into loads of shit. I’ve got fingers made of stone! I’m not talented like that. I’m not that type of artist.”
It’s a modest critique, although Guthrie is aware of his abilities. “I make the sounds I want to make with my guitar. I know nothing about music, I just try to do something different with my instrument. When I was growing up, my friends would copy riffs by their favourite bands, and I couldn’t do it. I’d think, ‘well I can’t play the tunes, but hey! I can make my guitar sound like a train!’”
This hunger for innovation has driven Guthrie throughout his career. His distinctive sound of layered ambient textures and guitar melodies has earned him great esteem. “It’s taken me 25 years to be able to sit comfortably with the word ‘artist’. I always called myself a musician, but I’ve never felt like one. I’m an artist! I’m expressing something, and using the tools I have at hand to do that.”
Guthrie is certainly diverse in his output. He’s just remastered key albums from The Cocteau Twins back catalogue; “Listening to my old music is like reading my diaries, it takes me back to the times and places when I made the music”. He’s also recently made a film, which he’s taken to Picturehouse cinemas across the UK, providing a live, semi-improvised soundtrack at each performance. This is despite having just released his third studio album, ‘Continental’ (reviewed in this issue).
“Everything I do is fairly random, I don’t have a big music industry plan. If I had a big record company, they’d probably insist I tour my new album. But it’s not ready to tour yet, I need to get some other musicians involved… Continental is a less downbeat record than some of my recent stuff. I felt like, it’s time to make some noise again! Some of the recent stuff I‘ve done has been a bit slower…”
And then there’s ‘Indigo Violet’, an ongoing collaboration with vocalist Siobhan De Mare. It provides an unlikely contrast in style to the group that made his name.
“Liz Frazer used her voice as an instrument, but Siobhan was into Shirley Bassey and stuff like that, she’d never heard of The Cocteau Twins, she wanted songs! And I thought, this is the best person I could work with because it’s taking me somewhere new. It’s far more structured, there’s far more chords. I limit the amount of ‘atmosphere’“.
Guthrie talks about his music with freedom and enthusiasm. He’s involved at all levels with his work, even providing the artwork for his releases. Despite his self-deprecation, you get a real sense of his self-belief. “I work really quickly in the studio. I’m good! I know what I’m doing now, I know how to get what I want. But I’m not experimental. It’s expression. I know what sound I want.”
REVIEW
Robin Guthrie
Continental
This is a strikingly personal, emotional record – quite an achievement considering that it’s entirely instrumental. But then this is the work of guitar pioneer Robin Guthrie, the musical auteur behind The Cocteau Twins.
‘Continental’ bears many of Guthrie’s trademarks; shimmering guitar licks, brooding ambient melodies, and sumptuous production. But it’s also a very immediate album, consisting of 10 self-contained, melodic tracks rich in variety and contrast. And Guthrie’s music has the rare ability to be startlingly affecting. From the euphoria of ‘Continental’, to the cutting melancholy of ‘Amphora’; and occasionally exploding into the driving ruckus of ‘The Day Star’. It’s a rare achievement to produce music that feels so starkly candid and poetic, without the use of lyrics.
It’s a lot more structured than most ambient music, and also much more organic. Guthrie’s technical wizardry means that he can seamlessly weave his unique guitar work around electronic sounds to create layered, vivid, and very human music.
J Everard Design 