Ahh and so it came to pass that the long awaited weekend finally arrived when the Casady sisters (Sierra and Bianca) would once again inveigle my mind body and spirit with readings from their latest dousing of the sacred feminine collective unconsciousness.
First a new album of kindertotenlieder, called The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn. Building on (Sierra’s spin off project) the Metallic Falcons’ Desert Donuts album (one of last year’s finest), The Adventures of… has a more open, outdoor texture, reflecting the psychogeography of its conception - a boat in the arctic circle, a farm in the south of France. The sound is less cluttered, and although there are some background colourings of animal noises and children’s toy instruments, they are used more sparingly than on previous albums. The dominating element is Sierra’s voice, which ranges from macabre operatics to pure tone angelic loveliness.
As Sierra says in Useless Magazine (because life is longer than you think) “I’ve used my voice to connect with the community around me to kind of feel out in which ways and with whom I’ve been connected in past lives and what is my karmic situation now.”
My karmic situation was in constant peril at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire for the sisters’ only UK appearance. The Bush was crowded, visibility was poor, but the sound was excellent. Fittingly the photos I took had a somewhat ghostly appearance, given that the sisters current talk is of “graveyard disco” and “Victorian hip-hop”. Sierra seemed to be summoning spirits direct from a Victorian table turning séance with Arthur Conan Doyle, whilst Bianca, in boyish military uniform with sexy slip underneath, teased the lust boys and girls at the front.
The highlights as always were “By your side”, the mystery happy dance-y song we now know to be called “Japan”, and the unbearably sexy cover of Kevin Lyttle’s Soca classic “Turn me on”. Every CocoRosie gig is different, and this one, in the spirit of the album, felt more acoustic, more classical, more spacious, more cerebral maybe and less purely emotional.
But whichever CocoRosie incarnate appear, it is always wonderful.
Much CocoRosie on youtube but there's a 6 part documentary starting at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjRZmpLs5EY&mode=related&search= and a lovely turn me on at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2hoP9CllbI
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