CD Review - A Whole New Way of Getting Dressed

Hailing from Melbourne and touted as Australia's leading all female a cappella group, Coco's Lunch present what is their fourth album, 'A Whole New Way of Getting Dressed'. Performance wise, they compare favourably with the likes of Tiddas, Sweet Honey in the Rock and Blindman's Holiday. On CD Coco's Lunch manage to evoke all the instantaneous magic of a live performance whilst displaying an intuitive depth of vocal arrangements and intricacy that can best be enjoyed in the hi fi intimacy of home. However it's the clean and crisp recording of five engaging voices taking turns to harmonise, dip and weave alongside each other, aided and propped by varied and interesting choices of percussion instruments and the occasional addition of flute which truly lifts this recording.

Although it did take a few listens to get past what appeared as a certain 'sameness' throughout, tracks such as the rhythmic African inspired Thulele Mama Ya, Shifting Time, the (albeit very white) gospel sounding Fly Away and the gorgeously harmonious Sleepless are good places to start before exploring further. Add to that the playful title track and the mix of barber shop, opera, caberet and slightly jazz tinged Nicht Reserviert (which effortlessly segues into a gypsy folk ending!) and you have to give kudos to the girls of Coco's Lunch and their adventurous nature.

DB Magazine, issue #278
May 8, 2002
Reviewer: Steve Jones