Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music
Sep 13, 2026 · 37 min · 11 segments
In the time after their 1984 album *Treasure*, **Cocteau twins** continued to evolve from their early atmospheric and dark post-punk music to pioneer ethereal wave and dream pop. This culminated with…
1985 began with a March release of Akea Guinea as a seven-inch single and a 12-inch four-song EP featuring all non-album tracks.
This was issued on 4AD Records on the independent label, just like the previous LPs and EPs from Cocteau Twins, and they would continue with this label until 1990.
According to Robin Guthrie, the word, the title of the single, Akea Guinea, is another word in Scottish for seashell.
This song would reach number one on the UK Indie chart and number 41 on the regular chart.
This was produced by the band, continuing the trend of the last couple of albums, and this would be the same for the upcoming EPs.
Akea Guinea was included as a bonus on some of the Canadian pressings of the previous album, Treasure, and the title track here also appears on the compilation, The Pink Opaque, which would be out in the following year.
With this song and over the following years, the band really developed off the strength of Simon Raymonde, who joined between the second and third albums, replacing original bassist Will Heggie.
He, of course, joined Elizabeth Fraser, who was on vocals, and Robin Guthrie on guitar to complete the band.
The big difference with Raymonde joining the band was he was more of a multi-instrumentalist beyond just bass.
Raymonde's arrival coincided with the shift towards a more polished, melodic, lush, sweeping, and ethereal arrangement type of music, which would be perfected by the band over the rest of the '80s.
Tiny Dynamine was another EP released that featured four non-album tracks.
It was issued on November 15th, 1985, two weeks prior to another EP, Echoes in a Shallow Bay.
The two EP sets which featured complementary artwork were both released as a combined double EP in a gatefold cover and as an eight-track CD.
Both of these EPs hit number one on the UK Indie Single chart.
The tracks on both these EPs were originally recorded to test the production capacities of a new studio that the band was working in and was not originally intended to be released.
However, when they first completed these recordings, the band decided the material was very strong and some of their best-sounding recordings and decided to send them out as EPs rather than discard them or hold them for the next album.
Many of the track titles on these two EPs have some link with butterflies and moths.
On one song, Melanella, which is the scientific name of the wax moth Galleria mellonella, contains lyrics by Fraser where she recites scientific names of the families of British moths.
1985 began with a March release of Akea Guinea as a seven-inch single and a 12-inch four-song EP featuring all non-album tracks.
This was issued on 4AD Records on the independent label, just like the previous LPs and EPs from Cocteau Twins, and they would continue with this label until 1990.
According to Robin Guthrie, the word, the title of the single, Akea Guinea, is another word in Scottish for seashell.
This song would reach number one on the UK Indie chart and number 41 on the regular chart.
This was produced by the band, continuing the trend of the last couple of albums, and this would be the same for the upcoming EPs.
Akea Guinea was included as a bonus on some of the Canadian pressings of the previous album, Treasure, and the title track here also appears on the compilation, The Pink Opaque, which would be out in the following year.
With this song and over the following years, the band really developed off the strength of Simon Raymonde, who joined between the second and third albums, replacing original bassist Will Heggie.
He, of course, joined Elizabeth Fraser, who was on vocals, and Robin Guthrie on guitar to complete the band.
The big difference with Raymonde joining the band was he was more of a multi-instrumentalist beyond just bass.
Raymonde's arrival coincided with the shift towards a more polished, melodic, lush, sweeping, and ethereal arrangement type of music, which would be perfected by the band over the rest of the '80s.
Tiny Dynamine was another EP released that featured four non-album tracks.
It was issued on November 15th, 1985, two weeks prior to another EP, Echoes in a Shallow Bay.
The two EP sets which featured complementary artwork were both released as a combined double EP in a gatefold cover and as an eight-track CD.
Both of these EPs hit number one on the UK Indie Single chart.
The tracks on both these EPs were originally recorded to test the production capacities of a new studio that the band was working in and was not originally intended to be released.
However, when they first completed these recordings, the band decided the material was very strong and some of their best-sounding recordings and decided to send them out as EPs rather than discard them or hold them for the next album.
Many of the track titles on these two EPs have some link with butterflies and moths.
On one song, Melanella, which is the scientific name of the wax moth Galleria mellonella, contains lyrics by Fraser where she recites scientific names of the families of British moths.
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