I first heard about CocoRosie on a forum I frequented back in 2005 or so, thanks to a guy raving about them in a thread. He'd recently purchased 'Noah's Ark' and posted a link to a song he liked from the album. I clicked it and was immediately drawn into a very strange new world.
The song he linked to was 'Beautiful Boyz', a tragic tale of an ill-fated boy turned ruined prison inmate. It began with understated, melancholy piano chords, the lilting croon of guest vocalist Anthony Hegarty and the ghostly wails of Sierra Cassidy, one half of the sibling duo that is the band itself. I didn't quite know what to expect when I clicked the link, but it wasn't this. The intro made way for some filtered, lo-fi beatboxing accompanying younger sibling Bianca Cassidy's strident vocal. It was a complete and utter headfuck, but incredibly powerful and compelling.
He later posted another link, this time it was 'South 2nd', another tragic tale, this time of a mother's son lost to inner city gang violence, rendered as a gentle, haunting acoustic number with the digital sqwarks of children's toys and miniature pianos providing the unlikely accompaniment. The lo-fi aesthetic immediately made me think of the likes of early Sebadoh and Beck even though musically, it didn't sound anything like them. However, it was enough to pique my interest and I knew I needed to own this album. So I picked it up.
I later found out that CocoRosie had been lumped in with one of those contrived musical fads music journalists occasionally dream up to draw attention to themselves; in this case, "freak folk" or "New Weird America". Predictably, after a bit of research, I discovered that many of the artists thrown into this category had little in common and I went back to not caring. Nevertheless, I could not shake this band or this album.
What did it for me was CocoRosie's boundless, unfettered approach to music. The unlikely blending of unlikely styles in unlikely ways (a technique normally the preserve of Japanese artists approaching "western" music). It was never quite knowing where each new song was going to go, and the way their songs inspired so many feelings; a sense of childlike wonder, haunting melancholy, euphoria and mystery, approaching topics like religion, sexuality, mythology and death with colourful abandon. I also loved the enigma they projected: were they really sisters or lesbian lovers? Is one of them actually a boy? And were the tales of their past and upbringing actually true or just fanciful stories designed to wrong-foot their audience? I wanted to know, but I also loved not really knowing or for that matter caring. So yes, 'Noah's Ark' definitely blew me away. The cover (looking like a piece of art homework that would land a schoolkid a week's detention) is every bit as odd as the music and does a fantastic job of visually summing up the album.
After this, I went backwards and picked up 'La Maison De Mon Reve' which was decent but for me, not quite as fully realised as this album. I also went to see them live in 2007 which today remains one of my favourite ever gigs. The albums that followed this are a mixed bag; as you'd expect, their sound becomes more and more polished and refined, but whilst the same creative spark remains, these follow up records never really recaptured that magic that initially drew me in.
'Noah's Ark', then, very much an acquired taste, but definitely something that appealed to me in a big way.
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