CocoRosie, La Maison de Mon Rêve

reviewed by anna battista

The legend says that sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady lived one apart for ages, but got together one day in the spring of last year by pure chance and wrote and recorded their first album La Maison de Mon Rêve under the moniker CocoRosie in a tiny flat in the 18th district of Paris. This is the legend, but it might as well be the truth: indeed the record retains all the magic of things done casually, it is practically a perfect album in its so evident imperfection.

The record opens with "Terrible Angels", a dark lullaby (check out the lyrics "if blue eyed babes/raised as Hitler's little brides and sons/they got angelic tendencies/like some boys tend to act like queens…") and continues with the tongue-in-cheek "By Your Side", an ode, complete with electronic elements, about sticking to one's husband's side and wishing to be a (battered and abused) housewife.

On all the songs of this self-produced album, Sierra sings in her soprano voice (she studied opera) and plays guitar and flute while Bianca sings and plays the drums and occasionally produces weird noises by squeezing and rattling things that might or might not be Fisher-Price toys. The album, which includes also one instrumental track, the dreamy "Candy Land", sparkles with occasionally great songs such as the short but heart-rending "Not For Sale", the acoustic "Good Friday" and "Tahiti Rain Song", which is enriched by the fractured rhythms of what sound like Moroccan flutes and drums. The track "Lyla", which reminds me for its title and main tragic theme of Lukas Moodysson's film Lilya 4-ever, closes the album.

You might not like Sierra and Bianca's alienated voices and CocoRosie's sound in general, but if you're looking for something new to listen to, perhaps something folky, lo-fi, slightly twee, ironic, dark, perverse and a bit scary, La Maison de Mon Rêve is made for you.

Touch and Go Records: www.tgrec.com

Issue 22, April 2004