London based jazz, fusion, funk, psychedelic, and trip-hop trio “The Comet Is Coming” serves up far out tunes, lyrics, and images from a crazy world

By Coyote Prophet

Upon first listen, one can be taken aback by the experimental whipping fusion of jazz, afrobeat, and electronica - all improvised into an intergalactic mash-up. Not knowing who it was, I thought it might have been the work of some contemporary artist like Get the Blessing or the Roller Trio, but I was dead wrong. What I was embarking on was a cosmic journey with The Comet Is Coming. And I was ready for the ride.

This London-based trio, comprising of Barbadian-British Shabaka Hutchings, Betamax Killer, and Dialogue the Conqueror, creates a fine tapestry of psychedelic sax solos and otherworldly sounds. Their music is a montage of various influences. They paid great homage to many of those influences such as Sun Ra and John Coltrane on their Mercury-nominated debut album Channel The Spirits. Their name came from a BBC Radiophonic Workshop piece of the same name. They heard this piece; with its allusions to sci-fi, cosmic remembrances, and general space it instantly struck a chord with the members. They were exploring new sound worlds and aiming to destroy all musical ideas that were unfit for their purposes when the name stuck with them.

Their second album, Trust The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery, showers the listener with a multitude of gems including an appearance from Kate Tempest on one of the best tracks of the album “Blood of the Past”- a clear standout centerpiece - where she is speaking the only words we hear in the entire album. The menacing instrumental along with Katie's piercing verses on capitalism, social dysfunction, and degradation hits home with blunt force.

On their Facebook page, they state “The Comet is Coming to destroy illusions. It will manifest new realities, perceptions, levels of awareness, and abilities to coexist. It is a musical expression forged in the deep mystery. It is the overcoming of fear, the embracing of chaos, the peripheral sight that we might summon the fire. Through the transcendent experience of the music, we reconnect with the energy of the Lifeforce in hope of manifesting higher realities in new constructs. Because the end is only really the beginning.”

Totally Agreed.

With Sun Ra, space may have been the place, but with The Comet Is Coming, they are deeply rooted here on Earth.