This Scottish band surfaced in the Post Punk era, but grew more successful throughout the 80s. Known for their hazy sound of colourful layered guitars and Elizabeth Fraser’s ethereal, smeared vocals, they contributed massively to the Dreampop genre.
Cherry-Coloured Funk opens their 1990 album Heaven or Las Vegas, which achieved the most commercial success. The song hits with a heavy opening beat, immediately dunking us into a vivid scene of twanging, lifting guitar and the solid pounding of a tribe-like drum. The shifting chords evoke rise and fall, but the leaping chorus yanks us off the ground as Fraser’s voice just seems to take us there.
All the lyrics are total nonsense. However, despite having no lyrics to engage with or relate to, the sheer sound seems to manipulate our emotions. The lyric ‘Not get pissed off through my bird lips as good news’ has no way of being embedded into this sentence, but can only stand as an example of beautiful chaos which doesn’t need to be understood.
This song has the power to cut me open as I bleed a deep-seated euphoria. Sit down with it, close your eyes and just see what it pulls out of you. I would love to know.
The Waxing Jessica 
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