For Comet Gain, the 2020s have been a decade of consolidation so far. Their recent output on Tapete is a combination of new material and the wider distribution of their older albums, none of which ever got the fair shake they should have from their contemporary audience. Of those, City Fallen Leaves may be the most crucial in their discography, as it separates and clearly identifies two eras of the band. While prior albums found Comet Gain indulging in equal parts twee melodicism and indie-rock fuzz & scuzz, City Fallen Leaves marks where they began to leave the scuzz behind. Yet, despite cleaning up their act, the band don’t completely abandon the depth that their songwriting always had.
Anyone familiar with later-period Comet Gain…
Tag Archive: Comet Gain
With a history that stretches back over thirty years, Comet Gain have cemented their status as an indie rock institution. Unlike most groups who reach that status, they have absolutely no interest in standing still or repeating themselves. One way they keep things moving is by working with a different producer on each album.
This time around they team with Sean Read, a longtime sidekick of both Kevin Rowland and Edwyn Collins. He and the group decided to make Letters to Ordinary Outsiders the lushest, most musically complex album the band has released. To their usual core of guitar, bass, drums, and keys, they add horns, synths, electric piano, backwards guitars, and in a fun nod to Dexys Midnight Runners, many songs that are…