CocoRosie’s circus comes to Chicago

September 11, 2009, at the Logan Square Auditorium

By Charlotte Loftus
Published: September 14th, 2009 | 9:22pm

Even people who don’t know CocoRosie’s music know their story. As children they traveled the country with their father, taking part in peyote-fueled sweat lodge ceremonies; then became separated and met up years later in a Parisian bathroom to record their debut album, La Maison de Mon Reve (Touch and Go). It can be difficult to set aside the eccentric story of Bianca and Sierra Cassidy — but for their show at Chicago’s Logan Square Auditorium, the two sisters played hide and seek with their own persona, leaving no doubt that their music and personal histories are inextricably linked.

Hippie raver kids who had driven from Kansas City for the show were hula hoping as the balloons tossed around the room and a higher ratio of feathers to hair contributed to the surreal travelling carnival vibe of a CocoRosie show.

Toronto-based musician Katie Stelmanis opened the show. Her soaring vocals, bright beats, and fuzzy noise were the perfect complement for CocoRosie’s signature brand of electronic neu folk. Like Sierra, Stelmanis is a classically-trained vocalist, bringing an ethereal splendor to her guitar and synth-driven pop songs.

CocoRosie went through the crowd to get to the stage which thrilled everybody on the floor. Wearing neon patterned tights, leotards, and (on Bianca) a grass half skirt, the sisters looked like they had been styled by Vice Magazine by way of American Apparel. Bianca had a table full of kids’ toys, flutes, and various electronic noise machines.

The sisters started off the set with “Rainbowarriors” off of their 2007 album The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn and moved into a diverse set taken from their three studio albums, EPs, and the self-released Coconuts, Plenty of Junk Food. They had several musicians join them on piano and guitar, as well as ever-present vocal percussionist Spleen.

Halfway through their set, everybody except for Sierra, Bianca, and Spleen left the stage, and Sierra sat at the piano to bust out some major operatic chops on “By Your Side.” Later, on one of their last songs, an older man came on stage to help out on the djembe. The sisters danced around the stage amidst a barrage of beats and pulsing lights which is likely the moment many in the midst of a pharmaceutical haze fell madly in love with CocoRosie. Later, some of the same kids got up on stage in one of the encore songs for a mini dance party.

A band like CocoRosie, whose personal mythos precedes them into every room, every venue, every review, needs to bring a performance strong enough to silence all of that background noise. At the Logan Square Auditorium, CocoRosie definitely put on a performance — but it could be stilted and shallow at times. Sierra stalked the stage like a ‘40s film star. You could almost picture her declaring “it’s the pictures that got small.” In this case, it’s the music that’s gotten small, and CocoRosie seem determined to move towards a more expansive and inclusive musical world.

—

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page

CocoRosie official site

CocoRosie MySpace page

Touch and Go Records