T HE STORY OF COCOROSIE is a complex fairy tale, full of whimsical characters and wild history—each layer of the band’s identity peels back to reveal further webs of stories. Part of what makes CocoRosie so compelling is the very exploration of identity and narrative within the band’s music and image. Its members, sisters Bianca and Sierra Casady, draw inspiration from drag queens and cabaret stars. Their fashion style (which is very much a part of their music) is sort of Coney Island meets Little Miss Moffat meets the street. In Paris, the sisters are fashion icons, frequently gracing the covers of contemporary Parisian fashion magazines. The band’s sound is similarly juxtaposed, combining in-your-face lyrics and sounds with the noise of children’s toys and melodies on Sierra’s scratchy, baby-like soprano voice.
The sisters’ personal history follows much of the same tune, with a nomadic childhood beginning on a farm in the Midwest. Bianca and Sierra currently have over a dozen half brothers and sisters. (Werewolf, performed above, was written after their older brother died in 2006, and is largely about the sisters’ estranged relationship with their father.)
Bianca (left) is 26; Sierra is 28
CocoRosie formed in 2004 with the release of their first album, La maison de mon rêve. Prior to recording it, Bianca and Sierra had been out of touch for nearly 10 years. They met up on a sort of chance reunion in Paris, where Sierra had been living and studying opera. They rekindled their childhood relationship, spending hours a day telling each other stories and dreams in Sierra’s Parisian bathroom. They began to record their musical sessions in the bathtub, where the acoustics were best. The result was their debut album and the creation of a band (they appropriately named CocoRosie as an amalgam of their childhood nicknames). CocoRosie has since released two more albums and met much success in the alternative music scene.
I find CocoRosie’s music to be eerily relatable—like the articulation of a common fever dream. The Casady sisters still live in Montmartre, Paris (which happens to be my former digs), where they own a gallery and tea house. If you’d like to learn more about their music or their lives, I highly recommend an article in the New York Times Magazine entitled ‘Twisted Sisters.’ Also, don’t miss CocoRosie’s many performances on youtube, especially this rendition of Hairpin Paradise filmed in their Montmartre living room.
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I have only listened to “By Your Side” of theirs (which is incredible) and I’m so glad you wrote this to remind me to check them out.
Welcome Wes, thanks for reading! I love “By Your Side,” too. Writing this post brought so many songs of theirs to my attention that I’d never heard before. Of course, it’s even better watching them perform, since you get the full costume effect and whatnot.