Little Comets - Manchester Academy 3 - 31.1.11When in search of elusive Little Comets, you may find the pursuit takes you to Manchester Academy 3, one night in January. In this situation, you should feel rather privileged, as they’re so elusive, Professor Brain Cox would have trouble locating a Little Comets headline show. “We’re used to leaving about now, then the headline act comes on” admitted the ever-modest frontman Rob Coles. Little Comets are used to supporting – always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Stepping into those satin shoes last night were The Rittz – with anthemic rock songs that give the impression you’ve known them all your life, and roaring vocals that wouldn’t be out of place in a large field. The Big Sleep, another hotly tipped Manchester band served as the perfect accompaniment to Little Comets. With their fusion of catchy mantras, feel-good percussion and synthy melodies, combined with the amount of people that knew the lyrics, (even more impressive considering their relative internet anonymity), it’s likely they could be graduating from the school of support acts themselves in the very near future.
To call Little Comets ‘kitchen sink indie’ would be about as accurate as referring to the Hoover Dam as a domestic basin. Yes, there are the lyrics about socks and curtains and Argos, but one listen to show opener, the cautionary tale ‘Adultery’ , ‘Her Black Eyes’ a story of abuse, or the philanthropic ‘Isles’, and you can see there’s a lot more to this Geordie four piece. Despite a rapidly growing fan base, they were dropped by their first record label for being absolutely “nothing like Ke$ha”, but it’s not surprising really, they quite frankly wouldn’t sand for the grammatical inaccuracies.
You see, where Vampire Weekend succeeded in becoming mathletic heroes, Little Comets are the darling wordsmiths; “a subtle soliloquy/straight to his pillow”, “the light of their fridge door/was always a metaphor”, “disorder surrounds her every noun”. Oh, language is most certainly not dead. But the delightfully witty lyrics are just half of it; you’d have a tough time not to be charmed by the tunes; energetic and effervescent indie pop punctuated with shrieks and injected with exotic twists courtesy of the percussion slung from the ceiling. This is the Costa Del Tyne.
Little Comets were genuinely thrilled at the reaction, the crowd demanding an impromptu encore. If this were The X Factor, Simon Cowell would tell them they didn’t know how good they were, and the figures don’t lie – their debut album is Number 3 in the alternative charts (“how many wheels does a Robin Reliant have?” they teased). Dancing Song did exactly what it set out to; triggering the release of Serotonin in the brains of anyone within a 100 metre radius, and current single Joanna provoked a euphoric acapella chant from the whole crowd.
It seems Little Comets and their Robin Reliant are on the road to big things, and these days they’re most definitely the bride.Words: Lucy Holt
*** If you like this check our Buzzin' article on Big Sleep here ***
© 2000-2011
Designer Magazine unless otherwise stated.
All Interviews by Alex McCann unless otherwise stated
NB: Please seek permission before using any articles within this siteContact us: designermagazine@hotmail.com
