Little Comets
In Search of Elusive Little Comets
Release Date: Jan 31, 2011
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Record label: Dirty Hit
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Album Review: In Search of Elusive Little Comets by Little Comets
Fairly Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Wrestled from the clutches of their former label Columbia Records, who refused to release it, apparently on the grounds that it didn't sound enough like Kesha, Newcastle four-piece Little Comets' debut album, In Search of Elusive Little Comets, has undeniably had a turbulent beginning. And while you certainly won't find any "Tik Tok"-style electro-R&B anthems here, its hard to see why record company executives didn't see the potential in its eclectic brand of indie pop, which often offers more invention in one three-minute track than the entire career output of the View, one of the few traditional alternative bands that has managed to remain on their roster. With Little Comets famed for their spontaneous gigs, which have seen them perform in universities, tube trains, and supermarket bakeries, In Search Of manages to recapture some of their ramshackle live spirit, with Rich Costey's organic indie-disco production allowing the band to showcase its melting pot of sounds.
Based on rating 6/10
If you were trying to intellectualise the music of Little Comets, you’d think of this, their debut album, as one of those 'typically British' social commentaries. Like Jamie T and Alex Turner they’ve got the cynicism and the perceptiveness to write songs that paint a picture of how it feels to be young and creative in Britain today. Theirs is a world populated by the illegitimate lovers in ‘Adultery’, the smug architect in ‘Tricolour’, the eponymous heroes, villains and anti-heroes in ‘Joanna’, ‘Darling Alistair’ and ‘Mathilda’.
Based on rating 3/5
This year’s up’n’coming crop may be white-hot right now, but [a]Little Comets[/a] have cooled off since they first shot into our skies. Long-time-coming debut ‘In Search…’s pop patchwork feels fragmented in places; [b]‘Her Black Eyes’[/b] is too-slow, too-soon and [b]‘Intelligent Animals’[/b] sounds jetlagged.But when they pick the pace up, a sonorous Geordie knees-up fills space and dissipates any dullness; [b]‘Tricolour’[/b] is a light-speed lyrical anthem while [b]‘Joanna’’s[/b] ode to guilt and shame is familiar; “Joanna, Joanna, it’s the morning and it still doesn’t feel right”. If [a]Little Comets[/a] played to their strengths they could burn far brighter.[b]Chris Mandle[/b] .
Opinion: Very Good
They’ll get you singing along and digging out your dancing shoes. Mike Haydock 2011 Little Comets had to wrestle this debut album from the clutches of Columbia – the label dropped them at the beginning of 2010. Finally, 12 months on, it sees the light of day, and it will leave you with one overriding thought: Columbia must have been mad to let Little Comets go.