Hey. Hey you! You want rock ‘n’ roll, proper? I imply, who doesn’t? Fucking losers, primarily. Are you able to think about? Pssh. There’s an vital qualifier to get out of the best way, although. As a discerning listener, you’re not out there for simply any bar-band rawk slop, and albeit, a few of the bands being propped up by the cool youngsters strike you as a bit… inert? Swaggerless? You don’t wish to arrange strict parameters, however you understand what you want while you hear it. You want rock ‘n’ roll music with model, character, some actual kick to it. You’re into bands just like the Comfort.
The Comfort rock. It’s simple, however it has not at all times been so. Don’t take that unsuitable; they had been good earlier than, they only didn’t rock within the typical sense. In 2021, the New Orleans duo launched their full-length debut Accelerator. Regardless of a title that portended most rock motion, the album offered funky, finely manicured pop rock — clearly in thrall to Prince, probably in debt to Chromeo, most certainly knowledgeable by band members Nick Corson and Duncan Troast’s tenure within the underrated synth-pop band Video Age.
4 years later, the Comfort are again this week with their second album, Like Cartoon Vampires, and it sounds nothing like Accelerator. They’ve considerably shifted their aesthetic, transferring in a path that you just — as a connoisseur of self-possessed rock music with a marvelously fluid sense of motion — will nearly actually discover interesting. Yep, these dudes rock now. However not essentially in a approach that can make you involuntarily utter “dudes rock.” They rock with a deadpan urgency and an off-kilter but unimpeachably easy sense of rhythm. Even after they calm down, as on the shadowy advance observe “Alternative” — even after they all however totally strip out the drums on “Rats” — their music maintains an itchy, contagious pulse. You would possibly name them a post-punk band in the event that they weren’t so clearly taking part in rock ‘n’ roll.
Although the influences have modified, the Comfort proceed to put on them proudly. If Prince was the lodestar final time round, this time it could be Spoon. On opening observe “I Bought Precisely What I Wished,” it’s unimaginable to overlook the combo of gritty swagger and sinewy minimalism lengthy since mastered by Britt Daniel and Jim Eno. That snappy backbeat, these jagged stabs of rhythm guitar, a feline lead riff that casually slinks its approach via the tightly wound groove, MVP-grade bass propelling all of it ahead with out overshadowing the topline — it’s an ideal specimen. Corson says the music is concerning the “discomforting psychological friction” that inevitably comes with stating that your wishes have been exactly fulfilled, and the music displays that sort of nervous power, however it could nicely give you the sort of uncomplicated enjoyment that its very existence rejects.
What different bands would possibly you hear echoing all through these 13 variegated tracks? Maybe Parquet Courts, the triumphantly rugged torchbearers for mainline record-collector indie rock, or Omni, the neon-stained post-punk combo who know make their spiky little livewire melodies intersect with their herky-jerk rhythms at pleasing angles. When that melodica comes blaring into “Café Type” you’ll fortunately keep in mind Clinic exist, although the music’s reggae-inflected backbeat has not less than as a lot in frequent with the Conflict. Talking of the spirit of ’77, the entire album is haunted by Wire, the veteran post-punk pioneers who, come to think about it, taught early Spoon a factor or two as nicely. And the music title “Dub Vultures” might nicely include a realizing wink from this band.
These nervy guitar-bass-drums contraptions are a supply system for lyrics about nervousness, despair, dystopia — all of the unhealthy vibes we’ve turn out to be intimately accustomed to right here on the finish of all issues. “I killed my mom/ I killed my father too/ Ain’t that simply residing in 2022,” goes one hanging introductory line; quickly Corson’s pleading, “Don’t stand so near me,” however not like Sting meant it. On “Goal Supply,” he’s eager for the traditional world however caught on this one, combing via e-mail blasts and declaring, “That’s one thing that speaks to me in printed trick op-ed.” He wrestles with late capitalism on the Fall-flavored “Western Pepsi Cola City” and his personal self-loathing on the mild, minimal outlier “Self-importance Shapes,” self-identifying as “the son of suburban cum.”
That is the work of men who’ve realized to giggle bitterly after they wish to cry. Generally it’s outright hilarious, as on the bass-powered “That’s Why I By no means Turned A Dancer” (which may have you swinging your hips nonetheless), a savvy take a look at evolving ideas of cool: “Was only a matter of time/ So farewell to a buddy of mine/ He gave his life to the heavy metallic/ A darkish prince of the eighth grade tradition.” Generally the gags are subtler: “I whispered one thing simply to verify I used to be nonetheless there/ I used to be nonetheless there, rats.” Greater than any specific sonic trait, that sardonic edge is what holds Like Cartoon Vampires collectively. Certainly, whereas channeling Sonic Youth’s shaggier aspect on the sprawling 10-minute nearer “Faux The Feeling,” they even pose the query, “The place’s your humorousness, buddy?”
On that be aware, buddy, does this sound like one thing you’d be into? An album that kicks ass, emphatically but elusively, exploring a cornucopia of ragged-yet-refined approaches to rock/punk/indie as a method of staving off the insufferable burden of consciousness? Can I curiosity you in a band that’s good however by no means too intelligent, approachable however not likely poppy, adventurous however overflowing from an unmistakable perspective? You may not like a lot about this world, however the Comfort? Listener, that is one rock band you’re going to understand.
Like Cartoon Vampires is out 4/18 on Winspear.