the use of ashes (and Wikipedia)

This Mortal Coil - Filigree & Shadow (lala) I was never a full-on goth type, nor was I a strict 4AD acolyte - I fell asleep at a Cocteau Twins concert at Tulane once - but man, I loved this record by the 4AD supergroup This Mortal Coil, especially "The Jeweller." So lush and haunted and pretentious and perfect. Here is a student film from back then (judging by the outfits) that I believe echoes how I felt about the song

I knew most of their songs were covers of Alex Chilton and Talking Heads and Van Morrison and so on, but until I looked it up, I was unaware that "The Jeweller" was by Pearls Before Swine.
Pearls Before Swine - The Use of Ashes (lala) How come no one has mentioned Pearls Before Swine to me before? I don't know who I thought they were - maybe something akin to April Wine - but they are right up my peculiar alley right now: string-laden psyche-folk of unabashed preciousness and delicacy. They were on ESP-DISK which should have been enough for me, ESP being the go to label for 60's loft Fire Music and reactionary anti-rock like The Godz and The Fugs. The song TMC covered is actually called "From the Movie of the Same Name"on The Use of Ashes, and the rich baritone of Breathless' Dominic Appleton in the TMC version is suddenly, surprisingly surpassed by Tom Rapp's charming lisp as the definitive reading of this song in my mind. Really, if you have an unhealthy Love obsession like I do, you might need to get you some Pearls Before Swine.
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies (lala) I took me a couple songs to figure out the singer of whom Tom Rapp reminded me... totally Daniel Bejar from Destroyer (and a slew of other bands). There are plenty of parallels in the sound and phrasing. I say a Destroyer album of Pearls Before Swine covers is called for. Maybe the 4AD guy can get the band back together for it.