CocoRosie talks nomads and nature ahead of Korean debut

By Ines Min

Lately spotted hanging around while donning cotton candy-soft facial hair, Bianca and Sierra Casady are not your typical sisters.

CocoRosie makes their domestic debut Jan. 22 with a show in Hongdae, on the Asia tour for their fourth album “Grey Oceans.”

The sister duo is distinguished by the simply ineffable quality of their music. Since they first appeared on the music stage six years ago, they’ve been through the mill of labels slapped onto their exterior — “freak folk” has been the most frequent classification and their latest release calls inspiration from ragtime to tribal percussion.

“It was definitely organic and really mysterious as it went along,” Bianca said of the creative process for “Grey Oceans” in a phone interview last week. The release, which was made in Argentina and seven other studios across the world, follows the tradition of the Casady sisters recording in places outside their native United States.

A combination of fantastical elements marks their sound, a boundary-transcending equality distinguishing their look. Known for their intricately-woven melodies and distinct voices, the two also don transgender costumes — adding layers upon layers to their personas and sound.

The two grew up separately and were reconnected as adults on a whim, recording their debut album “La Maison de mon reve” in Sierra’s Paris apartment. Sierra was studying to be an opera singer; Bianca carrying a background in art and fashion.

“With the first record I wasn’t thinking that much about music. I was really coming forward with poetry and I had a kind of natural knack for sound design and sound effects, things that are more cinematic in a way,” Bianca said. “And Sierra was kind of handling melodies, and that’s changed a lot.”

“We both explored a lot of voices over the years and I kind of switched roles here and there.”

The two maintain their separate activities, finding creativity in time apart. Sierra released an album with side project Metallic Falcons under her sister’s label and artist community Voodoo-EROS, while Bianca actively works on her art.

The past two weeks have been spent in Tokyo, where she has been working on an installation for an art show at the Sunday Issue gallery in the trendy Shibuya district (open through Jan. 30).

“I think for many years I was a lot more community oriented and Voodoo-EROS was kind of an indefinable community, but still a community. That kind of obscure collision of artists,” Bianca said. “But the last few years I’ve withdrawn a little bit, and just like doing a little bit more solo work.”

A need for occasional solace and isolation from the frenetic world has led to their creativity, but also an innate vagabondism.

“If anything I struggle to stick to one thing at a time,” she said. “It’s the same with places, in particular. I don’t stay in one place very long, I have to have a really good reason to be there.”

Bianca admitted that the two also aren’t big consumers of outside media, preferring instead to work from a more intimate, “insular world.”

“We kind of find ourselves more attracted to older things in general, but also just nature and space.

“We don’t listen to a lot of music even, we’re a little bit weird that way.”

Their latest album has been a sort of return to the basics.

“In the end we started to recover certain messages from the record, but we didn’t set out to make those messages. It’s kind of returning to nature, a sort of post apocalyptic atmosphere during a time of an obsession in society on the apocalypse,” Bianca said.

“We moved beyond that and returning to nature, and focusing on elemental beings like fairies and gnomes.”

CocoRosie will perform at V-Hall, near exit 9 of Hongik Univ. Station on subway line 2. Tickets cost 54,000 won at the door, 48,000 won in advance. Tickets can be bought at www.interpark.com or visit www.supercolorsuper.com for more information.

inesmin@koreatimes.co.kr