''Noah's Ark'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

musical group

CocoRosie CocoRosie is an American musical group formed in 2003 by sisters Sierra Rose "Rosie" and Bianca Leilani "Coco" Casady. The group's music has been described as folktronica, freak folk and "New Weird America", and incorporates elements of pop, blu ...

, released by

Touch and Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. Tou ...

on September 13, 2005. The album features

collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

s with various musicians, including Anohni, Devendra Banhart, and Spleen.

Recording

''Noah's Ark'' features sisters Sierra "Rosie" Casady and Bianca "Coco" Casady on vocals, with traditional instruments including guitars and harps layered over unconventional items used as instruments. The track "Bear Hides and Buffalo" includes a loop of horse and cat sounds over a toy piano hook. Upon the album's release, Bianca described the group’s sound as "sort of an eclectic montage," saying they "float around between a few different instruments and use a bunch of unconventional percussion things. Like toys." The album was produced and recorded in many different locations, including their mother's farm in

Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (, lit.: "Saint Marys of the Sea"; Provençal Occitan: ''Li Santi Mario de la Mar'') is the capital of the Camargue ( Provençal Occitan ''Camarga'') in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône ...

in the

Camargue Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''P ...

region of

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. Sierra stated that "the pursuit of intimate venues" lead to the sisters "pulling over on the side of the road and just recording in a field, or taking a moment in a barn in the

South of France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

, or a studio in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Collaborations

Anohni (formerly of

Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is an American music group presenting the work of Anohni and her collaborators. Career British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Anohni's music through his Durtro label ...

and credited as Antony Hegarty) provides vocals and plays

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

on the track "Beautiful Boyz", an ode to French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and convicted

felon A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...

. Devendra Banhart provides vocals through a

cell phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

on the track "Brazilian Sun". The opening rhymes of "Bisounours" come courtesy of French rapper Spleen. The album also lists Greg Rogove,

Diane Cluck Diane Cluck is an American singer-songwriter. She describes her music as "intuitive folk". She currently resides in Virginia. Early life Cluck was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 7, and was classi ...

Jana Hunter Jana Hunter is an American songwriter and musician based in Baltimore. Early life Hunter was born in Texas. Recording and band membership Hunter was signed to Gnomonsong, a record label run by Devendra Banhart and Vetiver's Andy Cabic. ...

and Ardzen as "contributing artists."

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, based on 24 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". MusicOMH London writer Michael Hubbard wrote, "Noah's Ark has a dreamlike quality to it." Sarah Peters, a former music editor and staff writer for LAS wrote, "Symbolically, the guiding light is important to all who have journeyed on Noah's Ark, and CocoRosie have presented a lesson in love, through hardship, that may not have been as powerful otherwise." In comparison to the sisters' previous work, writer Johnny Ray Huston of the San Francisco Bay Guardian noted, "Their new album, Noah's Ark (Touch and Go), has a more restless feel than their debut – the scratchy, tiny, Victrola-sounding vocals of La Maison sometimes give way to a more naturalistic recording style." Another review came from Heather Phares, writer for allmusic, who commented on the album’s vibe in particular. "There's a lot of power in the album's darkness, particularly on the apocalyptic campfire singalong "Armageddon"". Although some of the album's reviews were positive, some critics disagreed claiming, "Noah's Ark is more hypnotic and infiltrating than their enchanting (but short shelf-lived) debut, Le Maison de Mon Reve, but ultimately less magical." Other viewpoints were expressed about the contributing artists on the album and how "…the best offerings inevitably arrive in the presence of Antony and Devendra Banhart, whose guest appearances enhance and possibly upstage their lovely hosts." ''No Ripcord'' placed it at number 42 on the "Top 50 Albums of 2005" list.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noah's Ark (album) 2005 albums CocoRosie albums Touch and Go Records albums