Comet Gain: City Fallen Leaves
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Out Now
Tapete Records reissue Comet Gain’s underground indie pop classic, City Fallen Leaves. Andy Brown reviews this essential record for Louder Than War.
“And these are the records/ These are the friends/ These are the monuments/ Dreams never end”
City Fallen Leaves is a strong contender for Comet Gain’s finest hour, balancing – as it does – their many charms with a set of songs that any band would bend over backwards to have in their repertoire. It was originally released in 2005 and despite a committed cult following, it really does deserve wider recognition. The band’s sound lies on the intersection between indie pop, punk and garage rock while absorbing both Mod culture and the DIY ethos. It’s a noisy, disgruntled, wise and romantic record that’s bursting at the seams with sweet melodies and righteous lo-fi racket.
For the uninitiated, the band first emerged in the early/ mid nineteen nineties. Debut album Casino Classics remains a truly beautiful LP yet change was on the cards by ‘97 when – in the midst of creative differences – the group disbanded. What could have easily spelled disaster, saw songwriter David Christian – then known as David Feck – assemble a new band of indie outsiders and release Tigertown Pictures and Réalistes. Both these albums – and mini-album Magnetic Poetry – are genuinely exceptional yet what was to follow would take the band to the next level.
The album begins in extremely lo-fi style, with a sound quality akin to a cassette boombox playing from the other side of a concrete wall. Suddenly, we switch channels and the euphoric chorus to The Fists In The Pocket kicks in: “If you’re looking for me/ Looking for me/ I’ll be down there on the beach…” It’s a sudden shift that acknowledges their love for scratchy lo-fi sounds while emphasising the records melodic heart. This was always a band with an abiding love for both discordance and harmony and with City Fallen Leaves they found that ever-elusive sweet spot.
Christian’s songwriting reached dizzy new heights as he effortlessly channelled the likes of Robert Forster, Paul Weller and Dan Treacy. Just listen to the sad-eyed poetry of Days I Forgot To Write Down or the melancholic Mod pop of Your Robert! Appropriately enough, the Television Personalities frontman was a huge fan; writing the liner notes for band’s debut LP before returning to play an “invisible guitar solo” on the raging punk scuzz of Daydream Scars (certainly one of the albums most exhilarating cuts). Listen closely and you can practically hear the baton of the indie underground being passed down.
At the time, Christian believed this might be the bands swansong and those feelings seep through the records skin. I mean, just listen to the sprawling magnificence of The Ballad Of A Mixtape: a bruised yet defiant love letter to the DIY scene that birthed the band. Songs like The Punk Got Fucked dance on the precipice of chaos while Just One More Summer Before I Go shimmers with boy/ girl vocals and ragged urgency. The sound of a band chasing the sunset over the horizon, guitars and broken amplifiers bundled under their arms.
From the sneering swagger of Bored Roar to the melancholic, viola-laced embrace of Fingernailed for You, it’s indisputable that some of the records most affecting moments are delivered by co-vocalist Rachel Evans. The latter being the kind of track likely to leave even the hardest of hearts in a teary puddle on the floor. Her sublime harmonies work subtle magic into tracks like Draw A Smile Upon An Egg as Christian swoons: “I will try to be happy.” If that song doesn’t get to you, then I honestly don’t know what to say.
Truthfully, my favourite Comet Gain album changes depending on the day, but if there’s one thing for sure, City Fallen Leaves will always be in the conversation. Tapete Records really are doing the Lord’s work with these reissues: I envy anyone discovering this gem for the first time. As they sing on the albums final track: “We found the sound in the underground and we felt so proud to be underground.” There will always be a place for Comet Gain.
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You can find Comet Gain on Facebook, Instagram, Patreon and Bandcamp.
All words by Andy Brown. You can visit his author profile and read more of his reviews for Louder Than War HERE.
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