Comet Gain – Howl Of The Lonely Crowd – Fortuna POP! – ??? - ***

Since the mid-nineties, Comet Gain have invoked a holy trinity of Eighties Twee Indie, Seventies Punk and Sixties soul sounds, their early ubiquity on the London circuit perhaps devaluing their currency.
But the patronage of their new producer Ryan Jarman, of the currently fashionable group The Cribs, provides fleeting focus for new fans. Comet Gain's trademark euphoric pop stomps are undimmed, but amongst nods to Prefab Sprout and the junkie poet Herbert Huncke, a track called Yoona Baines appropriates unexpectedly the liquid Largactil licks of The Blue Orchids, the band formed by The Fall founder and psychiatric nurse Una Baines.

(17/4/11)