With their 2010 debut, “Celebrate Your Loss”, Hella Comet already impressively proved that indie rock does not always have to be what you would usually expect to hear. Listening to the recently released album “Wild Honey” (Noise Appeal Records), the Styrian band presents their own version of this style with a lot more musical facets than you are normally used to. From the overall sound to the songwriting, from the melodies to the arrangements, everything is a tad more sophisticated, thoughtful and lively, and shows that the four musicians definitely know how to serve up their ideas with an extra boost of energy and an exceptionally high degree of variety.
Although one can not quite deny the band’s affinity to the indie rock sound of the 90’s in the style of bands like Smashing Pumpkins or Sonic Youth, Hella Comet have a lot more to offer in terms of innovative songwriting, without the need to reproduce already known quotes of rock history. The four band members know how to charge a song with a certain mood and their own unique touch, creating an atmospheric tension over breaks, clever progressions and longer instrumental interjections. In this respect, Franz “Frente” Gurt, Jürgen “Jure” Hochsam, Markus “Maex” Sworcik and Lea Sonnek also sometimes convert to more post-rock climes, giving their tracks all the time needed to reach their fullest potential.
This certain “extra” that enhances the really bold, but also refreshingly edgy produced songs of the Styrian band is also evident in the fact that they often leave well-known indie-rock structures to let the individual songs develop a life of its own. At the point where other formations are content with bringing their songs to an end in simple verse-chorus forms after two to three minutes, Frente, Jure, Maex and Lea seem to just get started with gaining momentum. The songs begin rather quietly and slowly, but soon pile up with huge guitar walls and then switch back to a rather reduced, but steadily increasing middle part, which is then finished off with several minutes of a beautiful noisy finale. This convoluted style is repeated in modified form in almost every song, which ultimately turns the whole album into a very varied and exceptional sound journey.
With “Wild Honey” Hella Comet definitely demonstrate that new creative visions and ideas in the field of indie rock are still possible, as long as you follow your own path.
Michael Ternai
(translated from German)
Links:
http://hellacomet.mur.at/
http://www.noiseappeal.com
Hella Comet @ Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014:
Focus on Austria
As part of the special Focus on Austria in 2014, Hella Comet has been selected to perform at Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014, Europe’s most significant showcase festival in the music live industry. Congratulations!
Bridging the time until the Eurosonic Festival in January 2014, the Viennese video blog collective They Shoot Music Don´t They will present several of the selected artists with six minute video portaits. These “At Home Sessions” are a series of intimate portraits of Austrian musicians filmed at locations that have a special significance to their careers. Fancy hotel suites, cosy private homes, moody studios: for the “At Home Sessions” series They Shoot Music portrays artists in their personal environment and visit them at their places of inspiration and creative production.
They Shoot Music Don’t They is a collective of pop culture enthusiasts, film makers, web producers, and photographers. They started filming unique offstage performances of artists in unusual – mostly urban – settings in 2007 and are currently producing media for various festivals, lifestyle, culture & city brands. They are based in Vienna but have worked in many cities across Europe – from Porto to Copenhagen, from Edinburgh to Barcelona. The stripped-down sessions usually feature internationally acclaimed as well as local bands, are unannounced, spontaneous and can take place literally anywhere. Their aim is to capture an intimate musical moment and a snapshot of the everyday life of people and places. Since their beginning they developed various filming projects all over the world with the aim to show music in it’s natural environment.
Camera: Sarah Brugner, Simon Brugner, Michael Luger
Sound Recording: Hella Comet
Audio Mixing: Hella Comet, David Ruhmer
Post-Production: Michael Luger, Simon Brugner
Photography: Simon Brugner
Thanks To: Red Bull and AKG
*Eurosonic Noorderslag is the most important showcase festival in the European live music industry. The 28th edition of the Dutch festival will take place from Wednesday 15th to Saturday 18th January 2014 in Groningen, the Netherlands, with the spotlight pointing to numerous performances by Austrian musicians. 18 local acts – from Attwenger to The Vegetable Orchestra, from Fuckhead to Trains Of Thoughts – will form the “Focus on Austria” at Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014.