I am entirely excited for CocoRosie’s performance tomorrow at the Gothic in Denver. I’ve yet to behold the musical explorations of the Casady sisters live, but I sense that it will be epic. Their music is sultry, experimental, impassioned, and one-of-a-kind. The resonances of Bianca and Sierra’s angelic and otherworldly vocals amid their curious, fantastical realm of effected sounds and tones is true art.
The duo’s name comes from nicknames their mother gave them when they were young, Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie”. The girls reunited in Paris in 2003 to collaborate and create. The story is quite romantic. Bianca, who was then 2, living in Brooklyn and hadn’t seen much of her older sister for the past 10 years, had grown restless and decided to invite a change. She chose to travel the world and showed up in Paris where 24-year-old Sierra was studying voice. The two sisters sequestered themselves in Sierra’s bathroom, the most acoustic and isolated room in the apartment, for the better part of 2 months and soon completed their debut album, La Maison de Mon Rêve (2004).
Since then, the girls have toured the world, sharing their gorgeous and unrecognizable fusion of hip-hop, opera, electronica and pop. Sometimes it sounds as though you are listening to a field recording equipped with foreign noises, scratches, and faded vocals floating in the background. Other time it’s as though Billie Holiday has come back as a tiny girl obsessed with rhyme. Their third work, The Adventures of Stillborn and Ghosthorse (2007), was aptly produced by legendary Icelandic sound engineer, Valgeir Sigurdsson, who has excelled at capturing the anomalies and eccentricities of the Bjork. The duo recently signed with Sub Pop records to release their fourth full-length album, Grey Oceans (May 2010).
CocoRosie’s music is a reflection of Bianca and Sierra’s relationship with each other and this is what inspires its magic. It’s a means of expression for the intense and complex energy that runs between the two sisters. Originally, the girls performed as a duo with Sierra singing, playing the guitar, piano and harp, and Bianca singing and manipulating children’s toys, electronic and percussion instruments, and other unusual noisemakers. They more often now perform with a variety of backing musicians who take the roles of bassist, synth player and beatboxer.
Costuming is a constant within the world of CocoRosie, another part of the performance that I can’t wait to lay my eyes on. Bianca has been making her own clothes since she was 15. In Paris, the sisters are revered as fashion icons and regularly make the covers of style magazines. But unlike many of the women who surround them, the two are more likely to take and make their attire from 2nd hand stores than from the shops on the Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
So off to the Gothic to experience a world of unicorns, rainbows, fairies and angels and everything else that is CocoRosie. Don’t miss them as they voyage throughout the U.S. and then Europe.
Jun 21 – Gothic Theater, Denver, CO
Jun 22 – Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Jun 24 – Vogue Theater, Vancouver, CA
Jun 25 – Showbox, Seattle, WA
Jun 26 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
Jun 29 – Regency, San Francisco, CA
Jun 30 – Rio Theater, Santa Cruz, CA
Jul 1 – Belly Up, San Diego, CA
Jul 2 – Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Jul 17 – Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, CH
Jul 18 – Villa Ada, Roma, ITALY
Jul 19 – Spazio 211, Torino, ITALY
Jul 20 – Wagenhallen, Stuttgart, GERMANY
Jul 21 – KulturZelt, Kassel, GERMANY
Jul 23 – KulturArena, Jena, GERMANY
Jul 24 – Archa Theatre, Prag, CZECH REPUBLIC
Jul 26 – Gödör Klub, Budapest, HUNGARY
Jul 27 – Arena Open Air, Vienna, AUSTRIA
mp3: CocoRosie – Lemonade – Grey Oceans (2010)
mp3: CocoRosie – Rainbowarriors – The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn (2007)
mp3: CocoRosie – Terrible Angels – La Maison de Mon Rêve (2004)
Entries (RSS)