Nick Llobet (they/them) was ready to throw in the towel. Llobet, who grew up in South Florida, learned to play guitar at a very young age, dabbling in everything from classical, blues, classic rock, and flamenco. They’d spent much of their early 20s searching for their voice as an artist and as an individual, as well as for a musical community. Llobet would eventually move to Brooklyn, but after three years of looking for a hopeful artistic breakthrough, they spent much of their time in seclusion, consumed by social anxiety and imposter syndrome—and they were considering abandoning songwriting completely.

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The Crocodile

Coco(Opens in a new window), the project of Maia Friedman, Oliver Hill, and Dan Molad, began as an experiment of sorts—three friends writing songs for nothing other than the ritual of doing so. “There’s a mutual admiration and trust among us,” the band shares. “It allows a ‘first thought best thought’ mentality.” Their vast and varied individual creative histories—notably with Dirty Projectors, Lucius, and Pavo Pavo—inform an illustrious, collective sensibility for songcraft. Coco’s self-titled debut gathered fervent acclaim from tastemakers at NPR, BBC, SiriusXM, and Spotify among others. The trio headlined packed rooms in New York City, Los Angeles, and London, made their festival debut at End of the Road, and supported Kevin Morby on a national tour. Since, life has flown wildly forward for the members of Coco—Oliver getting married, Dan getting engaged, Maia giving birth to her first child. Their highly anticipated sophomore release—starkly titled 2—honors these transformations. On opener “Any Other Way” Coco meditates on change from a widescreen perspective: The leaf and the body, each in their time, turns on a schedule, turns on a dime. Maia lays a lush bed of shoegaze guitars; Dan's builds ecstasy from downtempo drums; Oliver stirs a current of hypnotically looping basslines. The song is a stunning microcosm of this band's specific genius: carving space for each musical personality to shine, without the shadows of excess or distraction. 

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May 3, 2025

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Apr 9, 2024

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