Coco

When
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
8 p.m.
Cost: $20
Where
3939 N Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR 97227

The following description was submitted by the event organizer.

Coco — the project of Maia Friedman, Oliver Hill, and Dan Molad — began as an experiment of sorts; three friends writing songs for nothing other than the ritual of doing so. “There’s a mutual admiration and trust among us,” the band shares. “It allows a ‘first thought best thought’ mentality.” Their vast and varied individual creative histories — notably with Dirty Projectors, Lucius, and Pavo Pavo — inform an illustrious, collective sensibility for songcraft. Coco’s self-titled debut gathered fervent acclaim from tastemakers at NPR, BBC, SiriusXM, and Spotify. The trio headlined packed rooms in New York City, Los Angeles, and London, made their festival debut at End of the Road, and supported Kevin Morby on a national tour. 

Since then, life has flown wildly forward for the members of Coco — Oliver getting married, Dan getting engaged, and Maia giving birth to her first child. Their highly anticipated sophomore release — starkly titled ‘2’ — honors these transformations. In the opener, “Any Other Way,” Coco meditates on change from a widescreen perspective: The leaf and the body, each in their time, turns on a schedule, turns on a dime. Maia lays a lush bed of shoegaze guitars; Dan builds ecstasy from downtempo drums; Oliver stirs a current of hypnotically looping basslines. The song is a stunning microcosm of this band's specific genius: carving space for each musical personality to shine without the shadows of excess or distraction.