Almost imperceptibly, Sierra
Casady has entered the hotel bar where we arranged to
meet. Her step is light and her movements full of grace.
She takes place at the table and smiles softly. ‘There
wasn’t much music around when I was young’
she says, almost apologetically, when I ask about her
background. ‘I moved to Paris when I was twenty
because I wanted to become an opera singer but it was
already too late, you need to start earlier if you want
to make it’. She also admits that the rigorous
lifestyle that goes with classical music wasn’t
for her.
By contrast, her sister, Bianca, the younger of the
two, didn’t have any desire to do anything with
music. Walking in a few minutes after her sister, she
quickly introduces herself and sits next to Sierra.
‘I was into writing and visual art. Music was
never something I was interested in’. It is however
what would link the two sisters. Born in separate states,
Sierra and Bianca spent part of their childhood apart
and only became reunited in 2003, when Bianca, who was
then travelling around the world, unexpectedly turned
up on Sierra’s doorstep in Paris. After spending
some time getting used to each other, they began experimenting
with whatever they had around them, and also started
recording, in the bathroom of Sierra’s flat, more
precisely in the bath tub. ‘I don’t know
why we started recording there’ hesitates Sierra.
‘There was just a good acoustic’.
They are still totally amazed that anyone would want
to buy their records. In fact, La Maison De Mon
Rêve was never meant to be released. The
recordings made in Sierra’s bathroom were collected
on a CD and distributed to friends. Very much the fruit
of their chance meeting, the ten songs on the album
don’t allow for any external intervention. ‘We
locked ourselves in and didn’t have much contact
with anyone’ muses Bianca while looking out. ‘We
spent most of our time trying things without knowing
where we were going. We were not really social at all.
We’d just spend days in the flat recording’.
How this original CD made its way to Touch & Go
Records, they don’t say, but the album was released
in June 2004 and rapidly collected rave reviews. Their
blend of broken acoustic pop songs tainted of found
sounds on which are delicately arranged quirky vocals
set them firmly amongst the American nu-folk movement.
Connections with Devendra Banhart, Antony & The
Johnsons, Joanna Newsom or Animal Collective were drawn,
yet nothing could entirely define what the pair were
about. This is not a scene as such, and they reject
such idea. ‘We’re just friends, and we’re
into similar things, but we all just do our own thing.
We don’t think about what we should do…’
There has however been a revival of the song as a proper
artistic unit in recent years, especially in the US.
This has been accompanied by a return to simpler musical
forms, based on the folk tradition of the late sixties.
The movement seems to find its roots in Brooklyn, and
CocoRosie have found themselves right at the heart of
it. ‘You’re guess is probably more accurate
than ours’ drops Bianca when asked about the possible
reasons for this. ‘I think we just react to what
we hear on the radio or on TV. American music is pretty
empty at the moment, it’s very bland, and I think
we’re just like-minded people who want to do something
different, something that means something’.
If La Maison De Mon Rêve was recorded
in the intimacy of Sierra’s Parisian flat, Noah’s
Ark took shape on the road. This is perhaps the
reason why the sonic palette used on this second album
is a lot richer, more varied. ‘We wanted to try
other things, experiment, work in different ways’
comments Bianca. Yet, nothing has fundamentally changed
with Noah’s Ark. Nothing apart from the fact that
the songs are more finely tuned, the melodies sharper,
and the textures more colourful.
This time round, they have also opened their treasure
hut to a few friends. Antony & The Johnsons, Devendra
Banhart and regular live partner in crime Spleen all
lend a helping hand, each adding their own personal
touch to the pair’s songs. When asked about how
these collaborations took shape, Bianca comments: ‘It
happened very naturally, it was very organic. Just people
playing together really.’
Their songs often have religious connotations, from
song titles (Terrible Angels, Jesus Loves
Me, Good Friday, Madonna, Armageddon,
Noah’s Ark), to more obscure references
in their lyrics, while their music often takes its roots
In traditional Gospel. ‘I don’t really know
why we use so much religious images’ hesitates
Bianca. She evokes the rampant hypocrisy of the Christian
church and the strength of the Christian imagery as
possible motives. Whatever the reason, this certainly
contributes to their music often appearing slightly
spiritual, therefore keeping an element of mystic around
the band.
Although both Sierra and Bianca appear surprised that
anyone would want to discuss their music, and clearly
feel uncomfortable at talking about it, they become
instantly more animated when we wrap up the interview,
getting exited about the prospect of visiting the bungee-trampoline
in Leicester Square, playing live a couple of days later,
or telling of their other projects. Bianca has just
set up her own record label, Voodoo-EROS, and swiftly
distributes its first release, a collection of demos
and odd-ball tracks from the likes of Devendra Banhart,
Vashti Bunyan, Patrick Wolf or Diane Cluck.
CocoRosie are certainly like nothing else around. They
are as media-shy as one could imagine, yet, they play
the game, just enough to still intrigue and fascinate.
It is difficult to predict where these two will end
up, but for the moment at least, they are without a
doubt the most heart-warming and human musical two-some
around.
Interview July 2005.
Thank you to Bianca & Sierra Casady and Lauren.
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