album of the week: 9.1

CocoRosie

Grey Oceans

Sub-Pop (2010)

why you'll love it: Best release yet by the duo. Weird without being obtrusive.

why you'll hate it: Odd voices may got on nerves; no real breakout songs

Let's point out the elephant in the room right away. The CD cover (not shown here, I used the vinyl cover instead) is the WORST piece of art ever created. These siblings like to dress funny and paint their faces… whatever. It's unappealing, yeah, but not much of a bother at the end of the day. What I found to be more offensive is the cheap pathetic font used to display the album title (present on both covers). If I knew nothing about this band, and saw this in a used bin, I would think it was printed over at the other end of the mall by the kiosk equipped with Photoshop 4.

And that's a shame, because there is no sign of laziness or unprofessionalism in the songs of Grey Oceans. It's a superbly produced, accessible, and often beautiful album, despite the eccentric habits of the performers. It wasn't until a recent Daytrotter session, that I realized little to no studio effects are used to alter the vocals. Those peculiar accents and stunning range in songs like "Lemonade" really are their natural voices!

I first was drawn to CocoRosie because of their vocal talents. The first thing I thought when hearing one of their songs was "Wow, she reminds me of Karin Dreijer!" (Vocalist of Honey is Cool, and The Knife) From then on, I've casually enjoyed their songs as innovative relaxing tunes, with a few fun interesting fanfare thrown in. Never as much more.

After reading up on these girls online, it appears their flourish is met with quite a lot of resentment. It's the same old cries of "pretentious" and tries to hard" you've heard all before. Come on, internet. When are you going to rise above this? It's all secondary. These are some very well composed songs. Their personality does not suffocate the music at all. Stop the psychoanalyzing, and just enjoy some music. Life's too fucking short.

Grey Oceans is a solid album you can get lost in and find quite a few surprises, or just chill out with and never get derailed. Yes, they may look like they crawled out of the art school wasteland, but the music will connect with you if you'd just let it.