The tension between authenticity and artifice is inscribed into the entire history of popular music, but it's especially evident in contemporary artists' efforts to extrapolate from traditions like blues, folk and gospel without seeming self-consciously atavistic. Of course, efforts to create music rooted in the past that isn't stuck there can feel self-conscious in their own way and this is where critics tend to target the Cassady sisters' distinctive brand of ethereal folk futurism. The Cassadys recorded their debut CocoRosie album in a tiny coldwater flat in the 18th District of Paris during the springtime of 2003 and La Maison de mon Reve (a quite apt title which translates to The House of My Dream) spills over with the kind of cracked, romantic bohemian splendor you might expect of music recorded in such a setting. The sisters mix dreamy nostalgia for Lady Day and old folk blues with a predilection for found sounds, field recordings, toy instruments, synth blips and abstracted hip hop rhythms. "By Your Side" might be the most extreme example of this impulse, combining on the one hand, dusty piano chords and Bianca and Sierra's warbling, croaking harmonies and shockingly self-abrogating devotional lyrics ("All I wanted was to be your housewife / I'll iron your clothes / I'll shine your shoes / I'll make your bed / And cook your food") with, on the other, ambient squeaks and hisses, birdsong assorted bleeps and a wheezing, stuttering electronic drum pattern. It's an explicit, almost guileless overlay of old and new, which sounds contrived at first but gains naturalism, poignancy and beauty with additional listens. This is partly thanks to the strength of the Cassadys' remarkable voices -- strong, throaty croons which set one another off gorgeously and really do often seem plucked from old 78s -- which allow them to get away with even the most simplistic nostalgia (the above, or "I once fell in love with you / Just because the sky turned from gray into blue," from "Good Friday") or the most superficial modernistic pop poetry ("Skittles are the rainbow / And every color's popular now"). Whether you find CocoRosie compelling or repelling, you've got to acknowledge that La Maison de mon Reve is one of the braver efforts of recent memory. Moreover, the sisters Cassady have indisputably aquitted themselves as talented and ingenious artists. One hopes to hear much more from them in the coming years.