Cosse

Paris, France post-noise quartet Cosse are delighted to announce that their debut album It Turns Pale will be released on 10th February 2023 via NMAS.

As a preview of what to expect from the album, the band have revealed an artistic new video for their latest single ‘Easy Things’ which is released on 3rd February 2023.

Taken in part from vocalist Nils Bö’s experiences as a scuba diver, the track song is about letting go and diving into an unknown state, and also the boundaries and difficulties to be encountered; what lies beyond. “When you deep-dive, there is a point of no return,” he explains. “You’re leaving the world that you know behind. You can’t access it anymore and you take your place in a new world, in a new state.”

Commenting on the track, he continues: “‘Easy Things’ is the only ‘folk’ track of the album. It’s set aside in that way; simple and deep. It’s kind of an answer to the complexity of some of our other songs, hopefully showing that we’re also able to reach deep emotions with a more simple approach.”

Directed by Cosse and Les Copains Productions, the atmospheric video stars Sarah Okendo, shot on the cliff of Fecamp looking towards the UK, and depicts an analogy between the central character and her environment.

“Sometimes rock, sometimes bird, both mineral and plant, She’s about to dive into this new state,” the band explain, “so it’s this pivotal moment that was interesting to us and that we wanted to recreate with the video clip.”

Oscillating between lush post-rock and noise, Cosse deal in intertwining harmonies and flowing magma-like rivers of feedback that swallow the listener in their dense cloud. Packed with the echoes of raw vocals—which, when not chanting, are whispering—their music has an inherent sensibility and a shocking fragility. Influences including Girl Band, Slint and Sonic Youth are obviously close at hand, making the quartet a band who, if you listen carefully, will leave you deeply moved.

The four piece released their debut EP Nothing Belongs to Anything in 2020 via French independent labels À Tant Rêver du Roi and Grabuge Records, and they’ve since shared the stage with Lysistrata, Mothers, Bruit, GGGOLDDD, and Chiyoda Ku, as well as appearing at Hellfest 2021.

Their ambitious forthcoming debut album It Turns Pale was recorded at Katzwijm Studio in the Netherlands under the guidance of their long-term producer Floyd Atema, a central figure of Holland’s current powerful and inspired post-rock/noise scene.

"We met Floyd when we were looking for someone to mix the first EP,” say the band, of working with Atema. “It was Alicia Breton Ferrer (The Sweet Release of Death, Neighbours Burning Neighbours) who introduced us on that occasion. We loved how Floyd mixed the EP so much that we knew we wanted him as producer on the album.”

Cosse will be on tour throughout the EU this spring/summer, with tickets on sale now and further dates TBA (see below for listings).

Cosse’s debut album It Turns Pale is released 10th February 2023 via NMAS

Situated in the middle of the famous Dutch flower region called ‘de Bollenstreek’, artists have long raved about the atmosphere and the ‘breeze of fresh air’ that found its way into their hearts, minds, and music whilst recording at Katzwijm, so the band decamped to the Netherlands to lock themselves up for two weeks, lost in the middle of the fields.

The challenge for the band on It Turns Pale was to show as many different facets of Cosse as possible, whether it was pushing a track’s length, creating and combining highly contrasting parts, or, on the contrary, producing very simple, accessible tracks that retained their emotional and sonic depth and weight.

“It was very intense. We always pushed ourselves to the very end, looking for the unique sound of each track,” say the band of the experience. “Floyd is a great sound engineer—he always came up with extra ideas, putting microphones in vacuum cleaner pipes, pots and pans, or getting dusty ‘30s snare drums with a crazy sound.”

“Beyond that, he knew how to push the psychology of the band in certain places. Making an album is not just playing notes and recording well, it's capturing an emotion, a moment, and he had the words to put us in a particular mood, especially for the recording of the vocals. It wasn’t that far from a session with your shrink,” they laugh, “but it created something special for sure."