Over the course of their nearly 30-year career,
Comet Gain weren't only foot-stomping indie rockers with a punk heart and a Northern soul. Under the guidance of
David Christian, they were just as adept at midtempo, folk-rock-inspired ballads. Autumnal, sad, poetic, and proudly emotional, these songs often served as the emotional ballast on their albums. These are the kind of tunes
Christian chose for his first release as a solo artist, 2021's
For Those We Met on the Way. Filled with keys of all kinds, rich backing vocals, lonely pedal steel guitar -- played by members of
Comet Gain,
Lightships,
the Clientele, and more -- and a mix that's full and impressive,
Christian pairs a batch of intensely personal songs with the most impressive, most produced music of his career. He's definitely going for an early-'70s
Gene Clark or
Bill Fay kind of feel, the kind of album where the singer pours his or her heart out while surrounded by a bevy of compatriots. There's a little bit of country, a little bit of classic rock, a whole lot of feeling, and still plenty of the jagged emotions
Comet Gain fans love so much. A handful of the tracks could have come from one of their albums. "In My Hermit Hours" is a jangling pop delight, "Ballads of the Button Downs' has a punk edge and the most insistent vocal on the album, and "Dream a Better Me" rocks along nicely. The rest of the record cuts a more distinguished figure, that of the songwriter in autumn going over the past with sharp-eyed regret, fighting the urge to be nostalgic while cataloging life's failures and successes. "Goodbye Teenage Blue" is the most explicit of this type of song as he totes up how many copies of Crocodiles and Kilimanjaro he owns and frets about writing the same song over and over. Other tracks deal with childhood, moving house, family, the ups and downs of love, and late adulthood, all set to gentle folk strumming ("Holloway Sweethearts"), swaying cosmic Americana ("When I Called Their Names They'd Faded Away"), rumbling
Zevon-esque rock ("Lockets, Drop-outs and Dragnets"), and radiantly melancholy baroque folk ("See You in the Almost Sunshine"). It's kind of funny that on his first solo album,
Christian surrounds himself with such lush arrangements and a wide array of sounds, but it's a fine way to make a break from the sometimes simple pleasures of
Comet Gain. It's also in no way any kind of mellowing as it's clear from the bittersweet lyrics and feeling he puts into the singing that even though he may have gone country-rock, he hasn't gone soft.
For Those We Met on the Way is just the kind of thought-provoking, emotionally captivating album
Comet Gain fans have come to rely on. The packaging might be a little fancier, the mood may be a little more relaxed, but at its bloody, unbent core, the song remains exactly the same. ~ Tim Sendra