Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 24
  2. Negative: 3 out of 24
  1. Noah’s Ark proves, again, that the Casady sisters are perhaps at the forefront of the overlabored ‘freak-folk’ scene.
  2. Under The Radar
    90
    However beguilingly perfect their debut was, Noah's Ark surpasses it in nearly every aspect. [#10, p.105]
  3. Noah’s Ark is a distant album - one that outgrows a few fast friends made on Le Maison de Mon Reve and depends on those truly willing to listen. It is a record designed to make believers out of its fans, and is certainly not for the faint-spirited or fickle.
  4. The music is as soothing as a lullaby and as challenging as a modern art exhibit.
  5. Alternative Press
    80
    This smartly sequenced album casts a cumulative spell. [Oct 2005, p.156]
  6. The sisters show an ability to pull different sounds and shapes together to make something extremely enchanting and really very lovely.
  7. Mojo
    80
    CocoRosie sound, blissfully, like no one else. [Sep 2005, p.102]
  8. With Noah’s Ark Coco Rosie have truly come into their own, delivering an eccentric sound so one-of-a-kind it could have come from no world but their own.
  9. Q Magazine
    80
    There's nothing here that's conventional-sounding enough to take... CocoRosie beyond cult status, just shard after shard of fractured melody that burrows deep into the subconscious. [Oct 2005, p.121]
  10. Uncut
    80
    Adds extra confidence and clarity to the same basic ingredients. [Oct 2005, p.107]
  11. A disappointment mostly in comparison to the seemingly out-of-nowhere brilliance of La Maison de Mon Reve, Noah's Ark might fail to charm those not already bewitched by that album, but it won't break the spell for devoted fans.
  12. Noah's Ark is not an end-to-end stunner. But there are bright spots throughout, and the sisters display a consistent penchant for deviating from standard folk and twee pop lyrical imagery.
  13. Noah's Ark retrenches CocoRosie in their signature sound and gives us a glimpse of their indubitably eccentric future.
  14. Filter
    70
    It is the sisters' old-timey voices that capture and carry the beautiful eeriness of these minimalist songs. [#17, p.103]
  15. Paste Magazine
    70
    Disconcerting and intensely beautiful. [Oct/Nov 2005, p.146]
  16. Magnet
    70
    La Maison offers a glimpse into the Casadys' strange, spooky world; Noah's Ark shows them taking tentative, often intriguing steps outside of it. [#69, p.91]
  17. Your enjoyment of this album will depend on how open you are to cats meowing, telephone rings, and French spoken-word passages weaving in and out of the songs.
  18. Overall it's rather tough to get a grip on what they're getting at.
  19. New Musical Express (NME)
    60
    For all there is to grind your teeth and hate about CocoRosie, there's much to love. [8 Oct 2005, p.45]
  20. The pair overextend themselves often enough to appear to be posturing, costing them some of their charm.
  21. So knowingly arty it could be sponsored by the Saatchi gallery, it irritates more than it charms.
  22. One of the most annoying records you're liable to remember.
  23. CocoRosie are clearly talented when they keep things focused; fact is, though, that Noah’s Ark is so steeped in its own random, garbled universe that it makes for a frustrating, unrewarding listen.
  24. Spin
    0
    They make each shimmer of postnatal whimsy seem like an eternal gulag of the spotless mind. [Sep 2005, p.109]
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 29 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 29
  2. Negative: 4 out of 29
  1. JeremyF
    Apr 18, 2007
    4
    Now here's a band that is going to get slammed for whatever step they take. At least by some people. See that zero up there? Well, Now here's a band that is going to get slammed for whatever step they take. At least by some people. See that zero up there? Well, CocoRosie are very talented, and hardly deserve a zero, or even a 10 or 20. La Maison was very good, and haunting, but they showed some kind of a eerie charm. However, Noah's Ark, while still a decent album, fails to deliver with the same strength as La Maison. It seems like they are either trying way too hard to incorporate the loud, obnoxious toys, OR they are trying enough. Whatever the case, this album ends up being quite a dark, annoying, sometimes-almost-scary adventure. With the exception of some amazing tracks (K-Hole, South 2nd, Noah's Ark, and Honey or Tar) this album fails compared to the last one AND the 3rd one. The interludes Brazlilian Sun & Bisounars [or whatever] throw me off completely, and I'm glad that Honey or Tar, the great last song, IS the last song, at 2 minutes and 8 second. Seriously, CocoRosie are clearly talented, this just isn't as refined as they OBVIOUSLY can be. Big fat 4. Full Review »
  2. AndyH
    Apr 16, 2007
    10
    People are too stupid to realize how good this is.
  3. SebastianI
    Feb 26, 2006
    9
    Best tracks in my opinion are: "South 2nd" and "Armageddon". But it really depends on whether you like the sound, it is a kind of pretentious Best tracks in my opinion are: "South 2nd" and "Armageddon". But it really depends on whether you like the sound, it is a kind of pretentious sound I guess. All in all a good record for me, but I think it something you will either love or hate. Full Review »