“I don’t think there’s a bad track on that record if I’m being honest,” Simon Raymonde told me as I asked his favorite song off Heaven or Las Vegas.
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, smiling ear to ear.
Simon wrote the music for “Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires”, the final song on the album, the day after his dad passed away. A song rooted in grief and memory.
“I Wear Your Ring” is another song from the record that is connected to Simon’s reflections about his father.
In his book, following the “I Wear Your Ring” mention, Simon writes, “Music is therapy.”
Heaven or Las Vegas is one of my favorite albums ever, a comfort album even. This music is therapy.
His father, Ivor Raymonde, made his mark long before Simon did, arranging and producing songs that defined ’60s British pop.
Simon writes, “Dad’s arrangements were never about showing off; they were about serving the song. He had this uncanny ability to lift a melody without smothering it. I think that’s what I’ve always chased in my own work, that balance between space and emotion.”
Writing a Life in Music
Simon has been writing songs and articles sporadically throughout his life. But never a book.
“It’s no secret that, you know, when you reach a certain age, you’re faced with your mortality more than you are when you’re in your 20s,” Simon told me, “I sort of thought, well, maybe I do need to kind of make some kind of document of my time on Earth.”
In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor, and Me goes through Simon’s journey from a childhood surrounded by his father’s orchestrations, to carving out his own sound with the Cocteau Twins, Bella Union, and beyond.
He compared the book writing process to putting an album together, emphasizing a need for cohesiveness and structure.
Building Bella Union
Simon and former Cocteau Twin bandmate Robin Guthrie founded Bella Union in 1997. Bella Union is an independent record label with a killer roster: Father John Misty, Beach House, Fleet Foxes, The Flaming Lips, and so many more.
Simon believes that his own struggles and self-doubt shaped how he mentors artists at the label. He stresses the importance of learning through experience and approaches his work with kindness, humility, and gratitude.
Growth, Grief, and Gratitude
In One Ear gives the reader a look into the details of Simon’s life. Revealing how challenges, doubt, and creativity shaped the perspective he brings to everything he does.
I love learning about the minds behind my favorite music and what inspires the songs I connect with most.
I never paid much attention to the lyrics of “Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires.” The song is sonically an emotional journey through fleeting moments. I felt that.
After reading In One Ear, I understood how the song channels Simon’s personal experiences, turning grief and memory into a soundscape that resonates far beyond the words.
“You can deal with adversities in life, and we all have them. We all need to have them to be able to grow as people and be better people,” Simon told me.
A kind and caring person doesn’t usually come out of thin air; it comes from life’s challenges and the lessons we carry forward from them.
Conversation Across the Pond
I was in London, sitting at a coffee shop for our Zoom call. Simon immediately asked where I was, “Are you at your house?”
I laughed and said no- I was at The Wren, a church turned coffee shop. We talked about everything other than In One Ear for a few minutes.
Simon is so friendly, and I genuinely can’t believe I had the opportunity to talk with him. I’m excited to meet him in person at the Rough Trade in New York City. On November 15th, Simon is having a book talk.
It was quite a surreal moment, interviewing someone from my favorite band in the place where he spent most of his adult life.
In One Ear details all the moments, big and small, that shaped Simon Raymonde.
“No matter what, all these things happen to me, good and bad—I do still adore music and find it to be the single most important thing in my life,” Simon said, “…apart from my family, and my dogs.”
Reading his memoir, I felt closer to the mind and heart behind the songs that have always moved me. I feel Simon’s thoughtfulness and love for music with every page. In One Ear leaves readers with a deeper appreciation for the emotions and experiences that shape the music we connect with.
I, of course, asked Simon what to do in London, and told him I was visiting Brighton the following day. Bella Union has a record store in the Laines. The Laines are filled with colorful buildings and every kind of shop you can think of. I stopped by Bella Union Records for a sweatshirt and a pin for my jacket.
Finishing this article, I feel nothing but gratitude. I am a huge fan of Cocteau Twins, and I truly look up to Simon Raymonde.
Thank you for reading these words and all of my other words! Appreciate y’all.
Check out Simon’s book In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor, and Me, and go to the NYC book talk on November 15th.
