Sister-act CocoRosie will be gracing the MAO Livehouse stage on August 4 at 9pm. We talked with Coco Cassidy about gnomes, fairies and Shanghai secrets.

You’re sisters, but didn’t perform together until 2003. What’s the story there?
We got lost in a wild, creative frenzy and never looked back.

You use a very experimental sound in your new album Grey Oceans. What kind of instruments do you use?
We define the kind of music we play as spiritual pop. We use lots of piano, different kids of harps, all kinds of wind instruments, including Chinese flutes. Synths, too. On the album many songs refer to nostalgic, ethereal places.

What places have you traveled to that inspired your music?
Most of our traveling is imaginary. We do it with our music. The places that we recorded are not relevant at all. To make Grey Oceans, we returned to a process of pure improvisation similar to our first record, The Adventures of Ghost Horse and Stillborn.

What are you hoping to experience in Shanghai?
Old mysterious secrets and ancient myths.

DETAILS

What: CocoRosie

Where: Mao Live House , 570 Huaihai Xi Lu, 淮海西路570号

When: August 4, 9pm

Tel: 5258-9999