– Following a detour creating music for two Robert Wilson stage productions, sister act CocoRosie have just announced their sixth album for September. Solo, the Coco half has been working on a film and its soundtrack, attributed to Bianca Casady & the C.i.A. Besides music, she is part of the Future Feminism collective (with Antony Hegarty and Kembra Pfahler, among others), and she co-founded the zine Girls Against God. Before the German premiere of her performance with the C.i.A., Casady spoke with SIEGESSÄULE about her busy schedule

Bianca, how do you balance all your different projects? Mostly, they all support and influence one another. I love to switch between mediums and outlets. When I am working in my studio, I go from drawing to writing to recording music all in one afternoon. I love to spin around and work with whatever tool catches my eye.

These C.i.A. shows have been advertised as your “new musical performance project” but also as a preview of your upcoming solo album. So, is the art object the recording or the live experience? The live show is still a real mystery. The record is strange and distinct for sure, and I'm not expecting the live show to be the same. I think the record will serve as more of a portal into a new world that we will discover on stage. 

Unlike the Central Intelligence Agency, you spell your new band's name with a lowercase 'i'. So, what do these initials stand for? There are many meanings. One is Cult international Alliance. This also has multiple meanings.

Both the C.i.A. album and the new CocoRosie are coming this fall. In the hypothetical world where people pay for music, if fans can only afford to buy one, which one should they choose? I'm sure fans can find a way to get both records. They are both filled with very personal poetry.

It was announced that the upcoming CocoRosie album was  recorded on four-track and used a lot of the same toy instruments as your first album from 2004. What draws you to the past? Well, being around old objects allows me to exist in a more mutable time and landscape. 

Could that be a reaction to the technological overload of current times? Maybe. Also, things in the past, objects, were simply made better. And more beautifully. I'm not a huge fan of plastic. 

So, you're clearly interested in the past. But you’re also part of Future Feminism. If you could hop in a time machine, which direction would you travel in – backward or forward? I like where I'm at, although I do relate to the year 1910. And the hats and mustaches from the early 1900s drive me wild!

Speaking of mustaches, Pitchfork recently ran an article titled “Pussy Riot's Political Message Has Turned Into Pure Media Spectacle“. How can we keep feminism progressing – and prevent it from becoming a diluted buzzword? It seems like good things are actually happening, at least in some parts of the world. There are still too many men, and especially religious men, on the thrones of power. Things need to break down and be reborn. I think a diluted buzzword is better than a taboo or an ugly word. Things are moving and changing.

Interview: Joey Hansom

Bianca Casady & the C.i.A., Aug. 26, 19:20, Halle am Berghain, with Pantha du Prince feat. The Triad

As part of Pop-Kultur, Aug. 26–28, various locations at Berghain, with Neneh Cherry, Owen Pallett, et al., pop-kultur.berlin