The Cutting Edge- The Music of Sheffield's Comsat Angels

Many bands follow a predictable career path- promising early singles after toiling in obscurity, an auspicious debut, and from there you might get a few gems, then the masterpiece, then the decline into mediocrity.

Not so with the Comsats. Though they had their share of major label troubles, they maintained a stable lineup all throughout their career up until their final album, and their discography ranges from the masterful (Waiting For A Miracle, Sleep No More) to the horrendous (Fire On The Moon, Land) in the opinion of both the fans and the band. Their penultimate album, My Mind's Eye, is even considered their best by some. (I'm a fan of Sleep No More m'self.)

They also reunited in 2008 for a pair of shows with the original line-up in the fashion of other post-punk luminaries such as Wire, Gang of Four, Dinosaur Jr, and of course our heroes in Burma.

Bass guitarist Kevin Bacon, guitarist Stephen Fellows, keyboardist Andy Peake, and drummer Mik Glaisher at Sheffield Academy in 2008

But aside from their career trajectory, it's their skillful playing and considerable mastery of mood and texture that makes them such an enduring act.

Their music can usually be called loosely post-punk, after all they shared a stage with Pere Ubu, but though the unremitting darkness so often identified with their style runs deep in the work, the Comsats also never forsake melody for drama, and they never forget to be a rock band, not just some flimsy 'art' band.

Have a listen to the mutated, lurching bass lines and deeply pounding drums from a personal favorite of mine, The Eye Dance. Dig that bending and shimmering guitar and keyboard interplay.



Another fave from Sleep No More is the original album closer, the haunting and emotionally blasted Our Secret. A great anthem for atheists, alongside XTC's Dear God. Just take a listen and dig the lyrics. "One world and one turn, one world only, that's the secret... we will never give it up."



Throughout the song, Stephen Fellows contorts and warps this skeletal, zapping riff that feels like it has more notes than it really does. It's a great effect, using variations on the timing of the nearly screaming riff to communicate the desolate emotional landscape of the song. A steady cyclical bassline keeps time while drums snap off a walloping beat. During the chorus, the tension resolves in the two cymbal crashes during the first half of the lyric. After the second chorus, as the guitar intensifies and skips around, the drums rise up powerfully to smash into the last chorus. What a tune.

Another song that (nearly) speaks for itself is the debut's Real Story, about a man with delusions about the nature of reality. Anchored by a fantastic highly funky, jabbing bassline, the song rides on a rolling drumbeat and effected vocals through a mocking chorus. The ending is a real highlight, though too short- the guitar riffs, though simple, are just perfect in matching the mood.



Keep in mind that these are all from early albums; later albums would produce plenty of classic tunes, but few later works had the conceptual purity and unrelenting mood as Sleep No More.

In their later years, after a string of failure albums in terms of both sales and critical opinion, the Comsats set out to record what would be their second-to-last album, My Mind's Eye. The result was quite the turnaround from the tepid albums preceding it- the production no longer dated, Fellows' voice in its finest shape yet, the drums untreated by cheesy effects, the keyboards used for mood and texture to let the guitar take full responsibility of the melody and direction of a song. The album reconnected the band with their fanbase and is actually a personal favorite of Fellows; he's proudest of My Mind's Eye as his band's best work.

It's no wonder, with songs like Field of Tall Flowers.



That chorus gets me every time. His voice, the accompaniment of strings, that guitar line. Bacon's bass work is in fine form throughout the album as well, powerful and full-bodied as it was on their best early releases.

Though the band produced one more album after 1992, 1995's the Glamour, it was not as well-received, owing in part to the two new band members' desire for a more traditional rock style.

That said, some of their work is still in print, and it's not completely unlikely we may see more shows from them in the future, seeing how well their reunion shows were appraised.

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