21 years have passed since that fatal Rendez-Vous In the Montmartre bedroom, which fried the lucky debut of the Sierra and Bianca Casady sisters. A record, “La Maison de Mon Rêve”, recorded with a four slopes, a guitar, sample Electronic and some bizarre noise captured “on the field”, in the middle of the nips, the creaking chairs and toys. He soon became one of the most talked about musical cases of the year, launching the Casady faces as new vestals of the rebirth of a “primitive” folk, updated with more or less contemporary extravagances and devilries, which were of the trip-hop brand, hip-hop, glitch, avant-pop and whoever has more.
Twenty -one years later, water under the bridges has passed for the cocorosies: seven studio albums, between lights and shadows, more varied soundtracks for theatrical works and prestigious collaborations, such as the one with the Kronos Quartet at the Jazz Festival in San Francisco. What has remained is the taste for transforming sisterhood into a deep artistic dialogue, playing with styles in a work of constant sound bricolage.
“Little Death Wishes”, released for the Joyful Noise label, adds important guests, such as Gael Rakotondrabe on the piano, Greg Saunier of the deerhoof to percussion and chance the rapper, but is structured once again in the feverish dialogue between Sierra (author of most of the texts) and white. Twelve tracks that deal with complex issues, such as the generational difficulties of women, the precariousness of existence and the “small death desires” of the title, the love disillusionments and that constant (and tormented) bond with childhood that has always been the characteristic figure of the duo. And of childhood, the cocorosies bring that innocent chaos to the dowry that makes intriguing apparently disjointed and fragmented songs, such as the initial “Wait for me”, a sort of electronic Madrigal led along core rhythms from Saunier, as if to mimic a frantic and irregular heartbeat, which indulges the childhood tremble of the song in Bianca.
The sounds-as usual hyper-control and dirty with massive injections of Field Recordings – often rase the playful and rarefied electronics of the first Bjork, as in the beautiful single “Cut Stitch Scar” in which the beat Otched and limping seems almost to evoke the scars of the title, while Bianca's trembling voice wonders about how to recompose a shattered reality (“Could I Fix The Broken Parts?”). Everything is always chopped, disconnected, as in the ninnannena Sblenca of “Least I Have You”, where between a forgotten piano and a grainy synth the voice of Sierra spreads a veil of trampled sadness or between the aggressive pulsations of keyboards and Drum Machine of “Nothing But Garbage”.
On other occasions, a hip-hop (“Paper Boat”, “Nothing Buy Garbage”) laps) then sealed by featuring of Chance the rapper in “Girl in Town”, one of the best numbers of the lot, built on a loop dissonant of Toy Piano And beat deception, which gently screech with the Flow Warm and melancholy of chance, while cocorosies evoke a wandering female figure, between fairytale calls and raw urban reality. A mood dark that returns to the most intense “Pushing daisies”,, Bedroom Minimal electronics in the service of a history of intergenerational trauma and family dysfunctions.
Evocative and intimate, the Weird-pop of “Little Death Wishes” will not attract new fans to Bianca and Sierra, but confirms their ability to move in that liminal dimension between fairy tale and reality, between childhood innocence and adulthood lacerations, with that touch of controlled lo-fi to act as Fil Rouge with the beginning. A mature and aware synthesis of the artistic path of cocorosias, which confirms the ability of the duo to explore new sound frontiers, maintaining a sghemba elegance and a recognizable identity. Imperfect and chaotic, like a bit of all their records, but perhaps also for this intriguing.
27/04/2025
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
