On their third album The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, CocoRoise get all mainstream accessible.
Ha! Belated April Fools!
Never fear, the Casady sisters Sierra and Bianca remain as wonderfully eccentric as ever on their latest disc. In fact, they seemed to have dived even deeper into the freak folk waters this time around when it comes to their sound, but subject matter-wise, the duo have their eyes firmly trained on current events. On their woozy charmer “Japan” the sisters, who vocally land somewhere between Bjork and Joanna Newsom, speak sing their way through the anit-war/ anti-west / anti-wealth tune. The music is fun. It sounds like a chorus of school kids marching around a field and singing out of tune without a care in the world. But then, there are the lyrics. “Everybody wants to go to Iraq / But once they go they don’t come back,” sing CocoRosie. They also hit on Jamaica and California with mentions of rape and easy life in the fast lane-type living.
The rest of the album doesn’t offer up another song as pointed or well-made but fans of the two will still find plenty to get excited about. “Houses” written by the sister’s frequent collaborator Devendra Banhart has his familiar rhythms and is perfectly interpreted by the Casady sisters. “Werewolfe” is a story song with a message. The duo’s cackling little girl vocals are especially effective here as they chant through lyrics like “gun hip, swollen lip, bottle sip”. The affect is a little off-putting, but at the same time, you can’t help but lean in for a closer listen.
There are a few songs like the overly child-like “Bloody Twins” and the psychedelic tribal tune “Rainbowarriors” that try a little too hard to be strange, but for the most part CocoRosie are still tripping lightly down their own personal yellow brick road. |