The Moon and the Melodies (1986) is the product of a one-off collaboration between the Scottish group Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...

 and the American composer Harold Budd

Harold Budd

Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....

.

The album has the characteristic style — heavily-treated guitar sounds and euphoric vocalising — that can be heard in the group's other work from the same period, for example on the EP "Echoes in a Shallow Bay

Echoes in a Shallow Bay

Echoes in a Shallow Bay is an EP by the Scottish rock group Cocteau Twins, released on 4AD. The EP features four non-album tracks. It was issued on 29 November 1985 two weeks after another EP entitled Tiny Dynamine. The two EP sets, which feature complementary artwork, were also released combined...

" or the album Victorialand

Victorialand

Victorialand is the fourth album by Scottish band Cocteau Twins. Working without member Simon Raymonde, who had been enlisted to work on This Mortal Coil's Filigree & Shadow album, vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and guitarist/producer Robin Guthrie produced a record almost completely devoid of...

. Harold Budd

Harold Budd

Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....

's stylistic piano tonalities and phrasing on this project are echoed in his solo album, Lovely Thunder

Lovely Thunder

Lovely Thunder is an LP composed and performed by Harold Budd. The vinyl release did not include "Valse Pour le Fin du Temps".- Track listing :# "The Gunfighter" – 3:18# "Sandtreader" – 5:33# "Ice Floes in Eden" – 3:28# "Olancha Farewell" – 2:18...

, from the same year.

The phrases "bloody and blunt" and "ooze out and away, onehow" come from Elizabeth Fraser

Elizabeth Fraser

Elizabeth Davidson Fraser is a Scottish singer best known as the vocalist for the pioneer alternative rock group Cocteau Twins...

's lyrics on the songs "The Tinderbox (Of a Heart)" and "My Love Paramour", both from the 1983 Cocteau Twins album Head Over Heels. Reusing phrases from old songs as titles for others can be considered one of Fraser's signature characteristics, as can her habit of emphasizing syllables in ways that differ from standard usage.

Elizabeth Fraser appears on tracks 1, 4, 5, and 8. The saxophonist Richard Thomas appears on tracks 5, 6, and 7.

Track listing

1. "Sea, Swallow Me"
2. "Memory Gongs"
3. "Why Do You Love Me?"
4. "Eyes are Mosaics"
5. "She Will Destroy You"
6. "The Ghost Has No Home"
7. "Bloody and Blunt"
8. "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow"

Credits

All songs composed by Elizabeth Fraser

Elizabeth Fraser

Elizabeth Davidson Fraser is a Scottish singer best known as the vocalist for the pioneer alternative rock group Cocteau Twins...

, Robin Guthrie

Robin Guthrie

Robin Guthrie is a musician best known as co-founder of the Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has played guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing...

, Simon Raymonde

Simon Raymonde

Simon Philip Raymonde is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer, Ivor Raymonde.-Career:...

 and Harold Budd

Harold Budd

Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....

.

Personnel

• Harold Budd
  Harold Budd
  Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....
  
   – piano
• Elizabeth Fraser
  Elizabeth Fraser
  Elizabeth Davidson Fraser is a Scottish singer best known as the vocalist for the pioneer alternative rock group Cocteau Twins...
  
   – vocals
• Robin Guthrie
  Robin Guthrie
  Robin Guthrie is a musician best known as co-founder of the Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has played guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums and other musical instruments, in addition to programming, sampling and sound processing...
  
   – guitar
• Simon Raymonde
  Simon Raymonde
  Simon Philip Raymonde is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer, Ivor Raymonde.-Career:...
  
   – bass guitar
• Richard Thomas
  Richard Thomas (musician)
  Richard Thomas is British a musician, writer, and comedy actor. He is best known for composing and scoring the award-winning Jerry Springer: The Opera with Stewart Lee. Thomas collected the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Score in 2004....
  
   of Dif Juz
  Dif Juz
  Dif Juz was a British instrumental band, strongly influenced by dub, who were active in the early to mid 1980s. Retroactively they can be seen to be most strongly allied with the Post-rock movement.- History :...
  
  – saxophone, drums