So you’re about to read an article about a band called “The Comas.” With a name like that, there’s bound to be a certain set of ideas that you have lined up in a neat little mental Excel column of what this band is going to be. Here’s the rundown on the band with the reader’s expected reaction provided - The Comas (they’ve got to be mope rock) are an indie (angsty) band that hails from Chapel Hill, North Carolina (they must sound like country) and moved to Brooklyn (they wear western shirts and have never seen a shovel). Their last CD came with a sci-fi glossy DVD (they are art rockers) that starred Dawson Creek’s Michelle Williams, who lead singer Andy Herrod dated (they are art rockers who are fourteen years old).

Actually, a good number of those preconceptions line up to be pretty true. The band definitely has its fair share of angst, staking its claim to breakup moodiness without reservation. Check any picture of the group and they line up within the basic hipster paradigm. They’re art rockers too, although the computer effects on their “Conductor” DVD makes it hard to believe that they’re falling into the “starving artist” slump. And the band’s emotional maturity level isn’t exactly the height of subtlety - the band’s biggest song to date was called “Tonight on the WB” which, despite the fact that it now serves as an elegy for the bygone Warner Brother’s network, isn’t exactly Henry James. But the one expectation the band does defy is the most important one - The Comas don’t make music to pass out to. It’s music to wake you up.

Listen to Invisible Drugs and you’ll get a picture of paranoia put into time lapse - it’s the meld of pop and grit that Weezer has been aiming for the past few years but always missed. Herrod and company, however, have found it - listen to the way the band holds out the word “arms” and you can’t help but hear the sound of Rivers Cuomo (maybe with a cheek full of gravel). It’s a melodic nail biter that leaves you with raw fingers, fingers shaking to click to play it again.

But Coma-tose pop isn’t just about rocking out - Moonrainbow is a slow hum that even features the slide guitar you’d expect from these native Carolinians. It starts like an alt-country love song, all fleeting twang and lyrical hyperbole (”I’ve sung a billion miles from here”). But as the song sways on it gains a little gravity, adding vocals and speed until it becomes a chant halfway between Gregorian and Gospel. Last Transmission is a radio signal from guitars in space. The fuzz quickly clears, however, and the catchy beat tethers its interstellar ambitions to the eventual earthbound solo and shouted chorus.

The Comas are gaining a little gravity too. They’re recently signed and highly productive, working on a new album with Vagrant Records, home to Dashboard Confessional. Dashboard Confessional probably represents the worst direction the Comas could go in - less art and more whine (Dashboard scholars will tell you that Chris Carrabba even wrote a song about how much he missed watching the Comas’ favorite show, Dawson’s Creek, while on the road). Hopefully Vagrant’s studio walls are well insulated - we wouldn’t want Dashboard interrupting our collective Coma. Although, if it were the other way around, maybe it would be a good thing. It’s a pleasant day dream to imagine the Comas, indie and angsty but exciting, giving Dashboard a few tips on how to stop yelling and, maybe, start waking up.

One Response to “The Comas Wake You Up”

1. Kasey Says:
   November 2nd, 2006 at 2:07 am

   The Comas are the shit!!

Give the Author Some Feedback!