The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn [CD]

Cocorosie have always been weird -- their first album was utterly bizarre, and so was their second.

But their creepy freakfolk sound is taken a step further in their third album, "The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn." The sister duo's sound is more polished and complex in this one, but remains eerie, bizarre and enticing -- like a fantastical child's dream.

It opens with Bianca crooning "Of aaaaaalllll the white horses," over rattly maraca, keening guitar, chittering birds and a smooth keyboard melody. But by nature it's hip-hop oriented, with some childlike rapping:

"He's moved a little nearer/to the master of our laughter/to the master of our song... then we gathered in a circle/still drown the rainbow fire/burning amber's not united/we remember mystical beauty." It's gloriously catchy, but kept from being merely poppy by all those odd sounds and extra melodies.

Things get less openly catchy with the songs that follow -- skittering ambient rap, clattering pop tunes that are crammed with keyboard tones and scratchy samples, music-box ballads, wistful little meandering freakfolk tunes, and delicate guitar pop with a soaring keyboard edge.

The music in "The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn" is almost TOO full at times, like a dusty room filled with old dolls and ornate toys. But it's never predictable -- there's always a weird new melody draped in oddball sounds for them. You never even have the chance to get bored.

The instrumentation is a bit more electronically oriented this time around, with waves of organ and keyboard over the smooth piano, rattly drums and ringing guitar. Sometimes these girls throw in some random samples (is that a duck?), bicycle bells, and some toy instruments -- it's a little cluttered, but it makes every song wildly unpredictable.

The songs are just as unpredictable -- sometimes silly, somtimes somber. They're filled with crystals, rollercoasters, werewolves, witches, wanting to go to Japan, and girls who talk to geese. All these are sung in Bianca's versatile voice, which can flip from opera to rap, and back to a high, rambling crack-pixie voice.

Cocorosie go into stranger, eerie territory with their polished third album, a checkered mix of freakfolk and crazy pop. Definitely a must-listen.

Cocorosie have always been weird -- their first album was utterly bizarre, and so was their second.

But their creepy freakfolk sound is taken a step further in their third album, "The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn." The sister duo's sound is more polished and complex in this one, but remains eerie, bizarre and enticing -- like a fantastical child's dream.

It opens with Bianca crooning "Of aaaaaalllll the white horses," over rattly maraca, keening guitar, chittering birds and a smooth keyboard melody. But by nature it's hip-hop oriented, with some childlike rapping:

"He's moved a little nearer/to the master of our laughter/to the master of our song... then we gathered in a circle/still drown the rainbow fire/burning amber's not united/we remember mystical beauty." It's gloriously catchy, but kept from being merely poppy by all those odd sounds and extra melodies.

Things get less openly catchy with the songs that follow -- skittering ambient rap, clattering pop tunes that are crammed with keyboard tones and scratchy samples, music-box ballads, wistful little meandering freakfolk tunes, and delicate guitar pop with a soaring keyboard edge.

The music in "The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn" is almost TOO full at times, like a dusty room filled with old dolls and ornate toys. But it's never predictable -- there's always a weird new melody draped in oddball sounds for them. You never even have the chance to get bored.

The instrumentation is a bit more electronically oriented this time around, with waves of organ and keyboard over the smooth piano, rattly drums and ringing guitar. Sometimes these girls throw in some random samples (is that a duck?), bicycle bells, and some toy instruments -- it's a little cluttered, but it makes every song wildly unpredictable.

The songs are just as unpredictable -- sometimes silly, somtimes somber. They're filled with crystals, rollercoasters, werewolves, witches, wanting to go to Japan, and girls who talk to geese. All these are sung in Bianca's versatile voice, which can flip from opera to rap, and back to a high, rambling crack-pixie voice.

Cocorosie go into stranger, eerie territory with their polished third album, a checkered mix of freakfolk and crazy pop. Definitely a must-listen.

CocoRosie is a duo I hadn't really heard of but after a friend lending their album "La Maison De Mon Reve" and loving the song "By Your Side" I impulsively bought their third studio album. "The Adventures Of Ghosthorse & Stillborn" is an eclectic,spooky,cute and damn right weird collection of songs which almost play out like a story which is enjoyable throughout although, it's not without some minor faults.

'Rainbowarriors' is a very cute song almost like it was supposed to be the theme music to a cartoon, the lyrics are just totally nuts and i love it, it almost plays out like a story of the Rainbowarriors, battling against evil (Saint Noni). Bianca & Sierra's voices are very unique and compliment the crazy beat thats sounds like a mixture of random sounds with a little hip-hop and i whole load of originality very cool song. 'Promise' follows the same strange suit starts off with indian sounding instruments with somewhat sonar-like beat the vocals are more spoken word much like the first track almost like shes rapping but its cool i like this one with the breathy singing in the background and the thumping drum make it almost sexy!

'Bloody Twins' is pretty short and reminded me of Bjork's album 'Vespertine' the song "Frosti" came to mind as they also use a musicbox like Bjork did which is beautiful with the harrowing,haunting vocals a la Joanna Newsom-esque

which goes into the ethereal 'Japan' which i agree with the other reviewer it does have a reggae undertone also fairground music came to mind.

'Sunshine' took a while for me to get into the start is odd, the thing i admire about Bianca & Sierra is the way they love to experiment with almost anything they can get their hands on, I'm not much of a fan of this one but i admire the originality of it.

'Black Poppies' is a sad song but I got to admit i did have trouble understanding the words and theyre a bit disturbing i didn't like the lyric "warm kittens close to the earth/underground bodies with no sound" poor kittens.

'Werewolf is one of my favourites I just love the way they sing it's like a cross between Billy Holiday/Bjork and Beth Gibbons, I starts with spoken word commentary which sounds very spooky (which seems to be an on going theme throughout the album,Halloween like)

'Animals' is a six minute giddy fest unlike the lullaby state of the creepy 'houses

'Raphael' is very enjoyable with the marching drum loop and subtle strings overlaying the paranoid-like vocals give it a mysterious feel to it.

The close 'Miracle' is precious sounds like someone playing guitar underwater it's pretty cool reminded me alot of Goldfrapp

the lyrics are somewhat abstract in Cocorosie fashion but i almost get the feeling like narrator is reminiscing on her first love when she was very young, during a more innocent time when little things like a kiss in the back seat meant so much i loved it a great way to end the album.

Top 5

1.Rainbowarriors

2.Werewolf

3.Japan

4.Miracle

5.Raphael

If you love abstract music a fan of Bjork,Joanna Newsom then i do recommend this if your a little apprehensive preview the album first it's definately not for everyone but for those who are into it it's a pretty good album, not as good as thier debut with the alluring song 'By Your Side'. Great album maybe a bit too ahead of it's time? who knows but I know i enjoyed it.