Photo: Matt Green
CocoRosie, comprising two incredible, operatically talented, electronically experimental sisters, have announced the details of their fourth studio album, Grey Oceans, due for UK release in May. Sierra and Bianca will also be gracing our shores in that month (along with Spring, HOPEFULLY) for a tour that includes a slot at London’s Union Chapel as well as an appearance at Butlins, no less, for the ATP weekend.
The album is a thoroughly international mongrel recorded in such disparate locations as Buenos Aires, Paris, Berlin, New York and Melbourne. Born of 5 heady days and nights of collaboration with jazz pianist Gael Rakotondrabe in Paris, “Everything at that point was based on improvisation,” say the band, “the first song we recorded was ‘God Has A Voice, She Speaks Through Me’, a dance song about suicide, spiritual ecstasy and life under the veil.”
That title’s CocoRosie in a magical nutshell, and the LP promises much, much more of the same. Track 4 on the album, ‘Undertaker,’ samples a recording of their mother singing in Cherokee, a knod to the multifarious nature of their magical upbringing, split between their teacher mother and nomadic shaman father.
Previous live shows have featured trapeze artists, magnificent costumes, and whole national orchestras, so if you have the chance to make any of CocoRosie’s tour dates, we recommend that you give it your very best shot:
May 4th – Union Chapel, London
May 6th – Trinity Arts Centre, Bristol
May 7th – Cathedral, Manchester
May 8th – De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea
May 9th – ATP, Minehead
May 10th – Cockpit, Leeds
May 11th – The Button Factory, Dublin
May 13th – Norwich Festival, Norfolk
May 14th – The Regal, Oxford
Words: Helen True