Comet Gain - Letters To Ordinary Outsiders [CD]

Formed in London in 1992 by singer and songwriter David Christian, Comet Gain were originally inspired by early Creation Records, Television Personalities and mod culture, drawing from the same ideals as Dexys, The Style Council and Vic Godard, and from the lineage of The Velvet Underground, The Byrds and the 13th Floor Elevators. In the ensuing years they have released eight albums on such esteemed labels as Wiiija, Kill Rock Stars, What's Your Rupture and Fortuna POP! that blend French New Wave with English kitchen-sink heart, Riot Grrrl with acid punk, and C86 with Post-Punk and Northern Soul, somehow outliving their peers and in turn inspiring a younger generation of DIY musicians. On this record, their second album proper for Tapete Records, Comet Gain are David Christian (vocals, guitar), Ben Phillipson (guitar), Rachel Evans (vocals), Robin Christian (percussion), Anne Laure Guillain (keyboards) and Clientele bassist James Hornsey, with additional vocal, brass and keyboard contributions from producer Sean Read (Dexys, Edwyn Collins, Rockingbirds). So who IS the 'Ordinary Outsider'? The wayward, hungry, tender, bruised, scared, defiant, shy but knowing, blessed with unseen magic, keeping their flames hidden away until needed, waiting for the time to let rip their powers in this age of hopelessness. In this TikTok narcissist era they hide from the spotlight but in their hearts are all reaching for the total Whatever-It-Is. These songs are postcards to and for them - you can't go wrong in hard times with a sense of belonging. After Comet Gain's last LP 'FIRERAISERS FOREVER!' which was a necessary exorcism of the Moron Era that has in fact only got worse - they have put aside the fuzz drenched broken glass howls for a more immediate, toe-tapping rush of melody and intent. Sifted through from the library of songs David Christian Feck had been recording over the last couple years for Bandcamp LPs of homemade snap, crackle and POP and picked the best bunch and streamlined, improved and muscled up 8 or so and wrote new songs that would fit into a living thing - a jukebox of favourites playing somewhere in the background - evergreen sixties UK pop with tough edges, soul stompers with a slight tear in the eye, Alex Chilton, Gene Clark, 'Sound Affects' Jam, euphoric melancholic folk rock, Hitchcock and Cope, The Fall when they made pop records, snarling freakbeat, yearning 80s baroque popness and jangled mornings and sad midnights - an alchemy mix to make something direct with hooks and hope and heart-looking back to look forward and looking forward to be in the NOW. Songs about old buildings, old streets and the ghosts that live in them - when you're gone does the house remember you, does it mourn you? Songs about clothes, the ones you don't fit in anymore, the ones you only have photos of, songs about that time you used to walk by the Thames with the gang of ordinary outsiders at midnight singing Style Council songs into the wind - when you were younger and stronger, songs about that first band - the one that never made it anywhere but gave you the strength to carry on, about the scars that build up in your heart like punctures from darts that turn into a kind of forcefield to protect you from the sadness now, about the vibrant pound of blood as the beat of the song ricochets into your system giving you the strength you need, about the defiant, tender poets whose job it is to show us how we can get OUT of here, about the girl who walked through the factory door and changed your life, lifted your broken spirit and made the day beautiful again, about the new wildhearted outsiders - the next generation of weird lions and lionesses who will show the NEXT lot the way to get out, because y'know, maybe one day it'll REALLY happen.... And who better to glue all this together than Sean Read (Dexys, Edwyn Collins, Rockingbirds, The Loft, etc etc) who not only breathed vivid life into these postcards of song but added his golden touch with vocals, brass sections, keyboards etc so the songs stomp, shimmy and soar. Comet Gain also welcome new drummer (and old comrade) Robin Christian (no relation/ex Male Bonding etc) to the gang whose fire and skill propels these new hymns along. Truly this is one of the best of the Comet Gain LPs - a concise mix of all their bags of tricks but in a way where everything fits like close friends that finish their own sentences - pop singles, garage snarl, midnight ballads, morning floor shakers, folkrockers, obtuse angles and direct hits. Just good things to hum for the Ordinary Outsiders everywhere as they watch the world falling down around them... because sometimes that's all you can do. Allen Ginsberg, Bordeaux, Jan 2025