A lot of people were shocked and disappointed that Liz bailed out of the Cocteau Twins appearance at the Coachella festival. I'm not, in fact I was shocked that she agreed to do it in the first place. The Cocteau Twins have always been an enormously private band, but I've done a bit of investigating and I think I know why our goddess is silent.

This is from the Cocteau Twins website, concerning the dedication to the final Cocteau Twins album Milk and Kisses:

Dedication reads: "Milk and kisses for the first man / my old man / love and a thousandfold rose for Buckley / my Rilkean Hearted friend" (From Elizabeth; 'Buckley' is a reference to Jeff Buckley.)

It was rumored that Liz fell in love with an unspecified individual on the Four Calendar Cafe tour. And then she was linked with Jeff Buckley in the press. Liz didn't respond, but Buckley told the press that they were just friends. This most likely was to protect Liz's privacy. Anyone who has seen Liz onstage knows what a fragile flower she is. But something got into her for the making of Milk and Kisses. After the subdued and whispery vocals of Cafe, Liz's singing on Milk was full-throated, expansive and extremely sensual. One of her most amazing vocal performances ever was on the sublime "Seekers Who Are Lovers" track. All the tracks on Kisses were extremely erotic, a quality that Twins music was not generally known for. Couple that with the "love and a thousandfold rose for Buckley" dedication, and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the nature of their relationship.

A listen to Buckley's records reveals a startling affinity with Liz. It's highly likely he discovered her following her landmark cover of his father's Song to the Siren on the first This Mortal Coil album. A casual listener could spot the influence Liz had on his singing. And couple with Liz' exotic, otherworldly beauty, it must have been a match made in heaven.

The Twins were an extremely dysfunctional band. Both Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde have confessed to severe drug problems and Liz and Robin's breakup was by her admission, damaging to all involved. But Jeff Buckley must have seemed like an angel sent from heaven. Given the fact that both of them were extremely busy with their careers, its hard to say how much contact they had with one another on a regular basis. But if you listen to Milk and Kisses in light of Liz's relationship with Buckley, one can imagine how ecstatic their union was.

Besides the fact that Liz was not your basic "Type A" career-slut like Madonna or Gwen Stefani, and that there was a great deal of turmoil in the band, there is also the fact that Liz had damaged her vocal cords and was in therapy after Four Calendar Cafe to re-learn to sing. And to make matters worse, she is also the survivor of childhood sex abuse, a fact she very bravely discussed in interviews in the early 90's. Then as she was starting to come out of her shell and reclaim her life as a great artist and sexual being, Jeff Buckley drowned in the Mississippi River in May of 1997. Shortly afterwards, Liz Fraser walked out of recording sessions for a new Cocteau Twins album, never to return. Again, do the math.

The Gnostics believed that the World was an abortion. They believed that this realm of creation was corrupt and fallen and that human beings were spirit beings imprisoned in the world of matter. When I contemplate the suffering that someone who has brought such immaculate, phosphorescent beauty into the world, I am increasingly inclined to agree. The list of careerist cows who ransacked Liz's beautiful art and took in to the bank is endless. The Cocteau Twins never received the acclaim they deserved. And Liz has suffered so much in her life. The more recent photos I've seen of her are heartbreaking. It's like the light of the world has gone out.

Anyway, I know a lot of people were greatly disappointed by the Twins' Coachella cancellation. But in context, perhaps you can realize that your disappointment is extremely trivial in comparison.