Customer Reviews

Noah's Ark

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Noah's Ark was delicately beautiful, simplistically intricate, lovely in form and sound, that is how I would describe CocoRosie's new album Noah's Ark. Each song deals with things that hit on various different emotional levels in such a way as if you are being innundated with rainbows, with each color telling you a different side to the story. This is an album that strikes a nerve, it hits your heart with it's soft tender little clings and clangs, and tiny voices, each of which hit convey to your heart a different and new emotion. CocoRosie have painted a beautiful landscape, that is at once pretty and fantastical yet beneath the surface shows the grit and grime of reality. A place where art has created perfect harmony between the oppositions.

i recently saw cocorosie open for antony and the johnsons after only hearing their first album (which i honestly wasn't too impressed with) and they blew me away. it was so cuddly-sad, like the feel i get from listening to mum, but more gritty, less ethereal. this album does a much better job of showcasing their live sound. "beautiful boys" makes me want to sob(!) if you liked the first album, you'll LOVE this one. it's beautiful, sad, rainy-day music for sure. see them live if you can. it's amazing.

The best thing to happen to me all year was this album. I honestly never even thought of music this way before: professionally amateur made music with effective randomized sounds (music box, opera singer, cats, car, barn animals, etc etc). This is the sisters' darkest album they have ever done covering controversial issues [arguably, even more so than Tori Amos]. Such songs include "K-hole" - a state of a wildly dissociated experience in which other worlds or dimensions that are difficult to describe with language are said to be perceived, all the while being completely unaware of one's individual identity or the outside world; my favourite, however is "Beautiful Boys" featuring Antony & The Johnsons - homosexual hate crime in a way of imprisonment/orphanage with references to the holy church, "A devil's child with dove wings". Basically, it's just one of those albums I cannot get tired of. There is an overwhelming amount of beauty and sorrow -a glorious concoction in this electronica trip hop folk. I have never been this wowed in my entire musical life, lyrically, musically, creatively, and engineer...ly. My #1 album of 2005 without a doubt.

Two sisters have collaborated to create what is perhaps one of the most unique musical projects i've come across in quite a while. Their music, while touching the outer edges of trip hop, ambient and flapper-era jazz, could hardly be described as such because i believe that they've written their own, new genre into the musical fold. Both sisters lend their voices to the lush musical landscapes they paint with deep baritones and high soprannos not to mention everything in between. Fans of artists like Bjork, Mister Scruff and Tricky would be well rewarded by checking this release out.

The album, when listened to as a whole continuous unit is a mind trip like no other visiting the vast spectra of emotional planes that for many people could be largely unexplored. After listening, one might ask "Why isn't there more music like this?"

"Transcendent and beautiful as only that which contains real sorrow can be, this album shows off Sierra and Bianca Casady's highly original gifts for imagery and songwriting in darkly delicate urban shanties that really must be heard to be appreciated."

"Noah's Ark" is remarkable, unique, spellbinding, scary, and beautiful all at the same time. It is the perfect soundtrack to play at a chilled-out coffee shop in Amsterdam. Elements of electronia, hip-hop, 30's style jazz, and folk are all here and will appeal to those who appreciate "outsider" music and odd instrumentation. The more you listen to this, the deeper you will fall into its wonderful spell.

This album is definitely worth your time. This album is passionate, and strangely enchantingly beautiful. This album will give your mind dream escapades to explore into your soul. This album will viscreally take over your soul so that you are thinking of pleasent memories of love and innocent sensuality, a closeness with yourself. The songs make you feel like the hole world is delicate and awful at the same time. A mix of grief and pleasentness. The lyrics are really beautiful. Some songs will make you feel like your a baby again. Playing with a kids piano---or looking up at one of those toy chandeliers spinning when your'e in bed. Deeply impressive.

CocoRosie's debut album La Maison de Mon Rêve was a unique blend of electronic sounds that remind one of Future Days-era Can and a vocal style that was essentially folk-like but much darker and more moody if that were possible. Lyrically, too, CocoRosie were very much a departure from what had been the norm for eccentric female singer/songwriters. Instead of focusing on mystical or nature-based themes, Sierra and Bianca Casady wrote songs about everyday experiences of the urban developed world that were humourous but always had dark overtones.

Their second album, "Noah's Ark" was a difficult act to do properly, yet CocoRosie do not fall into a single one of the many dangerous traps involved in following up a groundbreaking debut album. They do not try to do something totally different from what they had done on "La Maison de Mon Rêve", but neither do they attempt to copy what they did on the first album. Opener "K-Hole" shows that CocoRosie could still surprise even a listener familiar with their debut album, but the way the sisters' voices blend together is even better and deeper. This is seen in a remarkable way on the following two tracks, "Beautiful Boys" and "South Second", on both of which Sierra and Bianca look deeply at the problems of outcasts in a society obsessed with such things as celebrity. This is especially true of "South Second"'s surprising ability to delve int the difficulties of a housewife via the most beautifully touching harmonies. The use of found sounds from everyday items is further advanced in a wonderful way from "La Maison de Mon Rêve"

Fourth track "Bear Hides and Buffalo" has a strange, sleeplike beauty complemented by the childlike tone of the vocals and the simple electronics that form the only backup. "Techno Love Song" reflects on the problems of falling in love too quickly to great effect and the choral vocals when heard fit with the simple instrumentation. "The Sea Is Calm" is a typical abrupt change of direction, however, with an extremely slow piano and the sound of slow-moving water being even more difficult to acquire than most of CocoRosie's work, whilst "Milk" is very short but similarly moving. The title track is the most "electronic"-oriented on "Noah's Ark", having a slow-dance foundation via simple synthesised percussion and lyrics that one could call cute but fit with the humour the sisters always had. It's heavily synthesised sound predates their most famous song, "Rainbowarriors".

"Armageddon" is a return to the simple choral sound of "Techno Love Song", whilst the opening of "Brazilian Sun" continues in this soothing vein even with the ethnic percussion sounds that are a major departure from their urban style. "Bisonaurs" is similar but a little more folksy, "Honey or Tar" has a touching harpsichord-like guitar, whilst close "Oh Sailor" is close to Björk is its gymnastic vocal tone.

All in all, "Noah's Ark" stands as a textbook example of the right way to follow a groundbreaking debut.

If you like CocoRosie at all then this is the CD to get (La Maison is a close second). Check out the samples up above on the page -- the music is truly spectacular! I bought this CD in early 2007 and now three years later it's still one of my most-listened-to sets of music.

Excellent album - really recommend it to everyone who is into this type of music!