I was lucky enough to be treated on Saturday night to a magical evening by CocoRosie as part of Antony Hegarty’s Meltdown Festival at the London Royal Festival Hall. Two amazingly talented sisters with completely different sounds, Sierra (Coco) has the most beautiful operatic voice, and Bianca (Rosie) is reminiscent to Bjork and Erikah Badu. But they don’t just sing, Sierra also plays the harp and piano and Bianca plays the chinese flute and also some electro gadgets.
Bianca
Sierra
Not content with just all of their musical talent, they are backed by a three-man band supplying electronics, trumpet, piano and human beatboxing.
The sisters are originally from the US, and had an incredible education of art whilst travelling around the US with their mother. Sierra moved to Europe to pursue a career in opera and after 3 years apart, Bianca joined her in the beautiful city of Paris. The infamous muse city inspired the sisters to produce music in their tiny little bathroom, apparently because that is where the acoustics are the best (explains why we all sound better singing in the shower).
Their music has been called “freak folk“, and fuses elements of pop, blues, opera, electronica, and hip hop into the most magical sounds. It is incredibly hard to describe it, so instead here are some samplers from the night:
Their incredible performance won them two standing ovations. As an extra treat they were joined onstage by Hercules and Love Affair and Jessica 6 singer Nomi Ruiz for the encore.
