Surrey singer-songwriter CocoLarosa on the rise with debut album
Published 10:15 am Monday, June 8, 2026
CocoLarosa is a songwriter who deserves to be heard by a wider audience.
Saturday in Langley (June 13), the Surrey-based artist promises an intimate night of music celebrating the release of The Valley of Tongues, a debut album he titled as a nod to his family’s ancestral homestead in Norway.
Acoustic guitar in hand, CocoLarosa tells stories that echo the greats of the singer-songwriter genre — Dylan, Waits, Springsteen, take your pick.
“Some of his songs play like mini operas with mythical characters and dubious motives, while others are rapid-paced political tirades of epic proportion,” declares Russ Rosen, artistic director of Bez Arts Hub, where CocoLarosa performs on Saturday night.
CocoLarosa (aka Harley Tangedal, still using a gamer name) writes lyrically rich folk songs when not working as a marine mechanic for his family business at Annieville Slough. Though he’s been writing since his childhood, he began sharing his songs publicly just a few years ago, and was a highlight of last February’s Music City Showcase at Surrey Arts Centre.
The new album “has had many faces, and has been worked on in many places in the last year,” CocoLarosa shared on Facebook.
“Bringing this record to life came with its fair share of challenges. There were a ton of obstacles, both personal and professional, but there was also a lot of growth. And now after every setback, late night, and growing pain, we’ve finally almost finished what we started over a year ago.”
Appropriately, cover art for The Valley of Tongues was created with coloured pencil by Daniel Tibbits, another artist with Surrey roots.
“Nowadays it’s all too easy to crank out something with AI that’s been trained on the labour of real artists, but that seems like a sad way to go when you could be supporting the people in your community who have dedicated years to developing their skills,” CocoLarosa underlines.
Saturday’s concert (tickets on simpletix.com) will also feature an opening set by fellow acoustic singer-songwriter Fia, who happens to be Tangedal’s wife. In mid-May they co-released Just Kids, a song he began writing for their fifth wedding anniversary close to five years ago.