Coco (Dirty Projectors, Lucius, Pavo Pavo) share new track + video
COCO
(MEMBERS OF DIRTY PROJECTORS, LUCIUS AND PAVO PAVO)
SHARE “ANYBODY’S GUESS”
SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM RELEASED 29TH OCTOBER ON FIRST CITY ARTISTS
“Gorgeous, harmony-filled ethereal pop” — Brooklyn Vegan
“Oh, it’s just heaven” — Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music While You Were Sleeping premiere
“Bold, striking, but emphatically subdued, the dreamy pop aspect seem to be filtered in from another dimension” — CLASH
“Gorgeous, warmly wistful” — Gorilla Vs. Bear
“Their music is unerringly intimate and personable, striking a dreamy sound that is wholly encapsulating” — The Line of Best Fit
COCO share the gorgeously hazy & harmonic new single “Anybody’s Guess”, along with an accompanying music video beautifully directed by Anna Lian Tes and Stella Hartmann. It’s the final offering ahead of the band’s highly anticipated self-titled debut; set to be released 29th October on First City Artists via AWAL, and so far praised by international tastemakers including Bob Boilen of NPR, Lauren Laverne of BBC 6 Music, and more.
““Anybody’s Guess” is the last song on our record, and serves as a summary of sorts. In general we were thinking less about traditional song form and more about creating a narrative arc through scene changes – a suite. The bassline melody that accompanies the “doot doot”s is worth pointing out because its origins were in some ways emblematic of the whole record’s approach – we all came up with our own basslines and stitched together the best bits from each one.” – Coco on “Anybody’s Guess”
The video was beautifully directed by Anna Lian Tes and Stella Hartmann, who explain: “With the help of Tiara Jackson’s choreography, we were able to tell a story of a woman’s transformation after a whirlwind night of love. How do you sit with the unknowing? What final form would you take? Going from a real life setting in an apartment to the gorgeous depths of her mind was important to us. The final moment of becoming the most glamorous, strong woman will hopefully leave the audience thinking, she is going to be okay no matter what. The unknown doesn’t matter. Let that night of love be what it was.”
In 2019, Maia Friedman (of Dirty Projectors, Uni Ika Ai), Dan Molad (of Lucius, Chimney), and Oliver Hill (of Pavo Pavo, Dustrider) came together on an afternoon in Los Angeles. Old friends with rich history — Maia and Oliver had toured together more than once; Dan had produced music for their respective projects — the trio convened with ambiguous artistic intention, easy chemistry, and open expectations. Before the sun had set, Coco had a name and two fully formed songs.
This egalitarian approach proved a wise one. The band’s sonic sensibilities meld and complement like watercolors, an artful amalgamation of eclectic influences and musical specialties. Each voice a piercing force of its own, Maia, Dan, and Oliver seem to fall into their harmonies rather than find them, vocals softly swaying into place with aimless grace. The sound floats and wilts with an elegant effortlessness, a happening more apt to haunt than soothe.
The band credit Bob Moses — artist manager, radiant champion of emerging music, and dear friend — as the impetus for formalising their project. Cognizant of the trio’s uncertainty about where, when, and how the collective would share their impromptu project, he suggested they release anonymously, an experiment in sharing music utterly contextless.
Coco lovingly launched first three singles into the world with little more than personal notes of appreciation to listeners. The Line of Best Fit proclaimed “Awash with heartening and affectionately intimate harmonies over ecclesiastical Hammond organ, Coco’s introductory track is shaped around an earthy and cosy core…,” Gorilla Vs. Bear who described the music as “gorgeous, warmly wistful … breezy, almost ephemeral … a balmy, liberating groove” and CLASH who noted, “Bold, striking, but emphatically subdued, the dreamy pop aspect seem to be filtered in from another dimension on their new release…,” the trio independently amassed well over a million streams.
Coco recorded their self-titled debut album in three studios across the USA: The Paella Pit in LA, Three Sirens in Nashville, and the Lake House in Spicewood, Texas. Over ten tracks, the band outrightly defy decade, their sound sitting as comfortably with the intimate pop of Stereolab or Arthur Russell as the iconic sweeping productions of The Carpenters or Astrud Gilberto. Full of human energy, the music feels at once tightly constructed and expansive, inviting the listener to wander and explore its hallways. Its sense of momentum casts a gentle, funky, melodic spell.
Bob Moses passed away due to cancer in December 2020. The band share an excerpt from one of his final emails, the response to a rough draft of the record: I’m over the moon. I can’t think of a work I’ve heard in forever that has such a complete sense of its own voice, the integrity of its own musical language, and doesn’t sound like anything else I’m hearing. I thought of the colour and unresolved melodic ascension of Debussy or Ravel.
“Anybody’s Guess”
“Come Along”
“Knots”
https://www.instagram.com/songofcoco/
https://www.facebook.com/cocosongs