Robin Guthrie: Angel Falls EP

Poor Robin Guthrie. Ever since his former bandmate Liz Fraser stood him up at the planned Cocteau Twins reunion at Coachella a few years ago, he’s been stuck making Cocteau Twins records alone. Recording under his own name and collaborating with avant-garde pianist Harold Budd and ex-Ultravox singer John Foxx, Guthrie hasn’t strayed far at all from the Cocteau Twins’ trademark of flanged, phased and dense guitarscapes. The four songs on Angel Falls offer more of the same. With an old-school beatbox hissing away, Guthrie sounds more than ever like his old band without the Cocteau’s occasional industrial effects, sharp edges and Fraser’s way with melody and melodrama. This amounts to so much elevator-music dross. Pretty, yes, but that doesn’t stop it being painfully dull.