Highlights: After The Afterlife, Child Bride, End Of Time
“After The Afterlife” is a great opening song,
but what a perfect title. Tales Of A
GrassWidow does indeed sound like pop music as heard after the afterlife.
Which in a way is as good a description of CocoRosie as you are ever going to
get. Other than that album cover.
They say it’s this band’s
most accessible album, which probably doesn’t say much. The whole thing
reminded me of Mary Hampton’s weird folk. If Mary was in a band, embraced
modern sounds and, crucially, was even weirder... Tales Of A GrassWidow does make for an unsettling listen, but only
initially and if you had previously spent too much time playing your favourite
records on repeat. It’s intriguing, challenging, inventive music that has
enough vocal and instrumental hooks to keep you engaged. These are all very
out-there hooks, granted, but since when is that a bad thing? The Fall’s
“Jetplane” is still my favourite 2013 song.
The combination of male
and female vocals is a major asset here. The girl’s classic freak-folk voice is
interesting in a good way, but it might become grating over a whole album. Most
of the songs are based on electronic pop/trip hop beats, and on top of that you
hear twisted folk songs that can be both soulful (“Tears For Animals”) and
really catchy (“End Of Time”). Lots of beautiful and intricate things going on
here, like the classic piano of “Harmless Monster” or the uplifting flute of
“Roots Of My Hair”. Some of it tries too hard and ends up somewhat uneventful,
but overall the album is still a huge resounding yes.
Very artsy, but this is
that rare case when artsiness is justified by substance. Also, many of us get
stuck in our element for way too long, and that’s another reason to listen to
CocoRosie: they challenge senses ignored by most other artists. They have
songs, too.
7/10
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