Comfy – Goated & Foreboded
Comfy is a band that never stops moving. The now-Rochester-based power-pop outfit of frontman Connor Benincasa has called home to three major cities in the last decade, and has put out three times as many releases. Friends, band members, and collaborators rotate in and out of the band’s roster on every couple albums with Benincasa remaining the band’s only constant. It’s not just churn and burn though–the amount of deliberation that goes into the music is obvious, most notably on the full band releases. Goated & Foreboded–Comfy’s latest LP and our Album of the Week– just might be the band’s strongest effort to date.
Goated & Foreboded listens like something Harry Nilsson would’ve written if he had joined Weezer for the Blue Album sessions. Equal parts provocative and digestible, the album meanders seamlessly from beachy easy-listening (“Wait”) to sludgy garage rock (“Spark”). The range is especially impressive because nothing sounds out of place; chaotic and discordant moments cozy right up to the heartfelt power pop jangle of songs like “Tired and Troubled” and hooky lead single “Bangin’ on the Ceiling,” and it all works surprisingly well.
Continuing the DIY ethos of many of Comfy’s past releases, Goated forgoes the luxuries of a dedicated studio for the freedoms (and, in a way, limitations) of home recording. This isn’t readily evident from the production value though; the album’s layers are lush and polished without sacrificing an ounce of Comfy’s trademark fuzz. The album’s eight-minute closer, “Awake & Living,” testifies with its towering wall of sound–each explosive layer is fully discernable with not so much as a feedback squeal lost in the mix.
In essence, Goated & Foreboded doesn’t leave anyone feeling left out. It unites casual listeners, headbangers, groove hounds, balladeers, surf rockers and everyone in between. Rock and roll that gets the listener moving has always been Comfy’s true north (go and catch a live show and try and tell me otherwise), but this particular batch of tunes really explores the limits of what good garage pop can be, and that exploration has paid off triumphantly.
Goated & Foreboded is now streaming on all major platforms. Physical media and merchandise can be found here.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Ronald Walczyk