CocoRosie at City Sounds: the Casady sisters with “Tales of a Grass Widow”

Almost a year after an excellent concert at Wrocław's Arsenal, the charismatic Cassady sisters return to Lower Silesia's capital! We will see them at City Sounds on a tour promoting CocoRosie's latest work, their fifth full-length album, “Tales of a Grass Widow”.

CocoRosie formed in Paris, although sisters Sierra and Bianca Cassady ultimately chose Brooklyn as home. For over a decade, this colourful duo has attracted attention through broad inspirations, both musical, from hip-hop and reggae to folk and opera, and tied to lyrical subjects. Socially and politically engaged and environmentally conscious, the Cassady sisters have always sharply and bitterly exposed modern absurdities and injustices.

Each brings her own expression and distinctive singing style to their original music. Bianca’s painful truths are always accompanied by her characteristic childlike vocal manner, while Sierra responds with purer sounds, also drawing on harp, flute, piano and guitar. Coco Rosie’s music is therefore an intimate, endless psychological dialogue between two related yet different personalities. Sierra and Bianca have four full-length albums to their name. Their psychedelic lyrics and extraordinarily colourful style intrigued listeners and the media from the moment the debut, “La maison de mon rêve”, appeared.

2012 was a highly creative year for these representatives of the American neo-folk scene. Alongside working on “Tales of a Grass Widow”, Coco Rosie were responsible for choreography for the dance production “Nightshift” and the opera “Soul Life”, both staged at Donau Festival in Krems. Bianca also exhibited her work in New York, and the sisters took part in London’s Meltdown Festival, organised by their long-standing friend, Anthony Hegarty.

CocoRosie's latest album was made under the guidance of Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson, known for working with artists including Leslie Feist and Bjork. As is customary, the album's 11 compositions feature intriguing musical collaborations, including with the previously mentioned Anthony. From the moment it appeared online, the first single, ‘Gravediggress’, attracted considerable interest from critics and fans of this avant-folk act alike.

Exactly one month after this album’s official release, on 25 June, the charismatic CocoRosie will play the City Sounds stage at Wrocław’s Alibi club.