In CocoRosie's dressing room, faux dreadlocks are on the ground.

I wouldn't know this personally, because I'm hanging out with a Catholic priest on my cousin's back patio in Wilmington, Delaware. But isn't that kind of a perfect image for the band?

Bianca and Sierra have carved out quite a niche for themselves, with a mystique largely built on cultural appropriations, laced with childhood nostalgia and swimming in a psychedelic sea. Their shows are high concept and highly sensory. They're into art, they're into fashion, they're into France, they're probably into Billie Holiday (but I'm not going to bother to check a source on that).

CocoRosie blew (a very skeptical) me away with a stunning performance at Bumbershoot a couple years back. So, I was very much looking forward to seeing if they could woo me again last night at the King Cat Theater in what was their first Seattle performance since.

Alas, it was not to be. A death in the family found me on a plane to the East Coast with no time to send anyone in my stead.

Fortunately for me, my fellow writer/friend Katie Pate was in the crowd. At my prompting, she sent me a barrage of text messages that kept me from being too bummed about missing the sold-out show. Here's a choice few in case you, too, wanted to be there but had similar Delawarian obligations. Any typos are [sic].

"Most everyone is quite attractive."

"Bianca is wearing... ol' G vato-style shorts that hang down past her knees. Sierra is wearing a red silk negligée, large red flowers inside her bandana that make her look like a salsa dancer. A black tou-tou and boy panties over neon tye-died leggings."

"They look like blind mimes."

"I notice a marking on Bianca's left hand, a '$.' Interesting. wonder if its real."

"About half the audience seems to be remembering when they fell in love with someone, at some point, to this song." (By Your Side)

"Animals, from newest CD. array of plastic toys, bells are utilized in this song, including a bike bell that Bianca wears like a ring."

"so much reverb. gutteral chanting on the part of beatboxer Spleen, kazoos and a harp. Very sexy. Sometimes it is hard to tell who is making the scratches and screeches during the show— Bianca's noise makers, or the noise maker Spleen."

"the bassist just walked back on stage and tripped over a mic stand, knocking it down. hilariously, it just sounds like another one of their inter-stellar sound effects."

"Japan. hot reggae beat, political lyrics. 'We might have our freedom, but we're still on crack.'"

"Bianca rarely looks excited, except for when she is playing with her toys."

They opened the show with Rainbow Warriors, played a lot of material from their as-yet-unreleased new album, made everyone cry with By Your Side and hit other favorites like Animals, Bear Hides and Buffalo, Beautiful Boys and Japan. Their encore was After-Party, a soul-flavored number with some cute lyrics in the chorus: "This is the after-party / if you want to party with me / just slip into some PJs and bring your favorite movie."

I wish I'd been there. But whatever. CocoRosie will no doubt be back in 2010 to support the eagerly-anticipated new album they're dropping, whereas singing along to this song with about a hundred loving Italian relatives is OBVIOUSLY a once in a lifetime experience.

All photos by Johanna Breiding.