During this time, they created a distinct visual identity for the British independent music label 4AD through their record sleeve designs for bands such as Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and This Mortal Coil.
Cocteau Twins were a gothic rock and dream pop band who have released nine studio albums, seven compilations, and numerous EPs and singles.
In the 1990s, the studio was occupied by the band Cocteau Twins, who called it September Sound, and The Lightning Seeds.
In 1985 Scottish music band Cocteau Twins released a song called "Great Spangled Fritillary"; it was the first of four tracks (each bearing Lepidoptera-influenced names) on their EP Echoes in a Shallow Bay.
The Cocteau Twins song, Iceblink Luck, is named after this phenomenon.
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Big Sonic Heaven aired every Sunday evening for four hours and featured shoegaze, dream pop, trip-hop, Britpop, and electronic by bands such as Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Dead Can Dance, Portishead (band), Depeche Mode, Ride, Slowdive, The Cure, Hooverphonic, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Smiths to name a few.
At various times, the band cited influences including Mogwai, Cocteau Twins, Low, art rock from 1990s Chicago (such as Tortoise and The For Carnation) and Montreal (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and 1970s Britain (King Crimson).
In 1983, Sharp sang with fellow Scots Cocteau Twins on one of their John Peel sessions and at selected live gigs, where he met 4AD executive Ivo Watts-Russell.
Within one month of the album's release, the band was invited to contribute their first single named 'Bag of Snow' to D-Side's sampler disc, to be in the company of artists like Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, Type O' Negative, The Cramps and Goldfrapp, who all had a strong influence on the band.
Released in 2005 through Ici, d'ailleurs... record label, it features a number of high-profile guest vocalists, both French and Anglophone alike: Christophe Miossec, Dominique A, Elizabeth Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins), Jane Birkin, and Stuart Staples (of the Tindersticks).
Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins recorded the intended b-side, a cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren." Ivo was pleased enough with the results that "Siren" was made the A-side of the 7" release.