Review: CocoVera Debut LP ‘Rosary Pea’ a Compelling, New Avant-Garde Sound

Alejandra Robles and Janelle Obert are Cocovera - Courtesy photo
Alejandra Robles and Janelle Obert are Cocovera - Courtesy photo

By DONNA BALANCIA

In time for Halloween, CocoVera has released the debut album, Rosary Pea.

It’s an avant-garde work with unconventional melodic passages and vocals that hurdle uneven but oddly appealing musical terrain. This is more than mere doomgaze.

Cocovera uses echo and multiple stacked vocal tracks on dark melodic sections and blends them with haunting guitar and bells that toll … for our future?

One thing is certain, like Sonic Youth created in its work, Cocovera has certainly established a trademark sound. The best example of this groundbreaking, wailing approach can be heard on the tracks “Pyramid” and “Love From Another.”

Cocovera Sounds the Alarm Bell

This is not happy party material, but instead, the music sounds a compelling and darkly interesting alarm bell for humankind. 

The band is made up of Alejandra Robles of Le Butcherettes and Madame Gandhi, and Janelle Obert from Stars at Night and No Girlfriends.

Cocovera - Courtesy photo
Cocovera is Alejandra Robles and Janelle Obert – Courtesy photo

Ohio and Mexico Meet

Alejandra has toured with The Flaming Lips, Ani DeFranco and At the Drive In. She is from Monterrey Mexico and plays drums, bass, percussion and guitar. Janelle is from Toledo, Ohio, she plays guitar and bass and is lead vocals.

Music for Halloween on the Horizon

The duo has created a new sound with legs.

The music is something that needs to be played several times to catch every nuance, because, like a darkly lit room with costumed people, it will take time to understand what’s really there.

Download Rosary Pea here.

Watch the video for ‘Preachers’ here: