Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser Unveils First New Music in 13 years With Sun Signature’s “Golden Air”

For the first time in over 13 years, Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fraser has unveiled new music with the debut of her project Sun Signature’s “Golden Air”, a song that will see its release on a five-track self-titled EP issued by Partisan Records for this year’s Record Store Day. 

Sun Signature is a duo comprised of Fraser and her partner Damon Reece, the touring drummer for Massive Attack, who also has played in Lupine Howl, Spiritualized, and the Ian McCulloch-less version of Echo & The Bunnymen.

Today, Fraser and Reece have shared the single “Golden Air,” a song which also features guitar from Steve Hackett, who was enlisted to work on the track based on his work with Genesis’ 1974 concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

The new project is a decade in the making, resulting from ANOHNI inviting Fraser to perform at the 2012 Meltdown Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London, which is where the first song’s from Sun Signature made their debut.

Listen t “Golden Air” below:

After two decades of sporadic live appearances and releases, Elizabeth Fraser has seemingly toned down her reclusiveness. In 2018, she reemerged for a rare, intimate solo performance, singing a selection of traditional folk songs to a small audience in London. In 2019 she toured with Massive Attack for the anniversary of their album, Mezzanine, for which she famously provided the vocals for the single “Teardrop.”

In 2019, Fraser collaborated with British folk singer Sam Lee on a new, Bernard Butler-produced duet of the old folk song “The Moon Shines Bright”.

Fraser also recently collaborated on another duet with Jónsi from Sigur Rós for the song ‘Cannibal” and teamed up with Oneohtrix Point Never to rework “Tales From the Trash Stratum”.

The first track listed on Sun’s Signature is called “Underwater”, which is the same name as a song from a 2000 release from Fraser. Both the songs “Golden Air” and “Make Lovely the Day” previously made their live debut when performed at the 2012 Meltdown Festival.

This latest EP will be the first release by Fraser since 2009’s “Moses”, a song she’d written with Damon Reece and the late Jake-Drake Brockman.

Sun Signature is out on June 18th via Partisan Records.

Below is the cover art and tracklist:

Sun’s Signature, Sun’s Signature

Side A
1. “Underwater”
2. “Golden Air”

Side B
1. “Bluedusk”
2. “Apples”
3. “Make Lovely The Day”

Featured Photo by Ben Part