About the event

CocoRosie is a sister duo formed by Sierra and Bianca Casady. Their debut album made them instant stars and placed on a par with Björk in terms of critical acclaim, audience adulation and musical eccentricity. They are most often identified with 'freak folk' and the 'New Weird America' scene. In Wrocław, CocoRosie will perform a show entitled 'We Are On Fire' - also the title of their latest single, recorded with Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio) and Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons).

The story behind the formation of the sibling duet reads like ready-made script for Hollywood drama. Separated in their youth, the sisters had little contact for the better part of a decade. Sierra, who had sung gospel from an early age, moved to Paris to study opera, while Bianca stayed behind in New York City and studied linguistics and sociology, while also composing music. In 2003, Bianca joined her sister in Paris on a spur of the moment decision. Their sibling rediscovery and nightly conversations blossomed into days, and then weeks, of spontaneous writing and recording sessions in Sierra's bathroom - the most isolated studio they could find. Thus emerged CocoRosie's cathartic debut album La Maison de Mon Rêve (The House of My Dream). From the beginning, CocoRosie's strangely magical songs have been driven by the sisters' ethereal voices backed by minimalist instrumental arrangements that include sounds played on toys and other everyday objects. At first, they intended their music only for friends and family, but a series of circumstances led to their first release on the Touch and Go label - acclaim soon followed in North America and Europe. There is a uniquely open and vulnerable quality to their music, which can be almost childlike, yet at the same time unabashedly feminine and confidently poised.

Critics were as impressed as they were vexed in their attempts to classify CocoRosie within any category. Perhaps this was a post-rock manifesto against dated popular genres? Then again it could be indie music pushing against mainstream formulas. Some have placed the origins of the duo's melancholy sounds and poetry in trip-hop and dream pop. The only consensus seems to be that CocoRosie belong to the emerging genre of 'freak folk' and the 'New Weird America' scene, which also includes styles such as psychedelic folk. CocoRosie's repertoire spans pop, opera, blues and hip hop, thus spreading their appeal beyond any readily definable audience. Their meteoric rise has not slowed their output, and their new recordings continue to meet with enthusiastic approval the world over. Already on their second album, they attracted such guest performers as Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) and Devendra Banhart. Today, on the strength of their fourth release, CocoRosie are unequaled rising stars of avant-garde pop and folk.

The sisters met Rajasthan Roots, an Indian folk collective, while playing at a festival in Abu Dhabi. An instant chemistry was born and the two groups then played together for the first time at the Kampnagel Theater in Hamburg, in March 2012. Their collaboration has met with universal acclaim. Among their upcoming stops will be the Arsenal in Wrocław on 28 July, where CocoRosie and Rajasthan Roots will also be joined by virtuoso beatboxer TEZ.

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