If my incredibly enthusiastic reviews of Atlas Sound and Beach House haven’t already given it away, I love dream pop, and Cocteau Twins are nothing if not pioneers of the genre.

Synths drone, guitars wallow in reverb, and a female voice sings wistfully in nonsense syllables in what is, according to Wikipedia, widely regarded to be the first definitive Cocteau Twins album.

Were it not for the dated production on the drums, you could be easily forgiven for thinking this album was released in the past five years by some Brooklyn girl with a laptop. It’s this timelessness that make Cocteau Twins essential members of the 4AD records alumni, and a tragically underappreciated act in a musical landscape that would embrace them if they existed in a different decade.

Personally, this is the least-played of the three Cocteau Twins records in my collection, but this listen is making me realize that I need to rectify that.