Start Listening To: Comfort
Comfort: challenging conventions and finding liberation through fearless music.
Hailing from Glasgow, Comfort is a band poised to disrupt the music scene with their albumWhat's Bad Enough. With fearless lyrics that navigate the harsh realities of being a transwoman in modern Britain and a genre-defying sound, Comfort refuses to be confined by labels. Their lead single ‘Real Woman’ fearlessly confronts transphobia with an undercurrent of absurdity, refusing to grant it the respect it doesn't deserve. We caught up with Comfort to hear more about their upcoming album.
Can you tell us about the concept behind your new album What's Bad Enough?
What’s bad enough generally deals with my experience navigating an increasingly desolate world as a transwoman in 21st century Britain. The question is one I often found myself asking as austerity, poverty, inequality run rampant. It is also a question I have had to ask myself with regards to my mental health, I believe generally we are taught to grin and bear our own destruction. So, I wanted this record to speak truth to the pain present within our current system whilst also representing the defiance that can be found on the other side of alienation.
Your lead single "Real Woman" has an uplifting and confident message about being a transwoman. What inspired you to write this song?
Real Woman was collected from lots of different pieces of transphobic experience, or articles, or broadcasts. I like to write down things constantly and I am always listening to the world around me because I want to present it in its purest form. Real Woman felt necessary because the consistently worsening transphobia in the UK, as well as being scary and concerning, has this undercurrent of outright ridiculousness. I find it hard to take seriously a lot of the time, the world is burning, families are struggling to eat, is it really the hot button issue that I shouldn’t be allowed in the women’s toilets? I wanted to write a song which treated transphobia with the respect it deserves, none.
How does your new album compare to your previous EP All Fears, Fully Formed?
All Fears, Fully Formed still clings onto the more noise punk driven sound we were exploring previously, specifically on our album “Not Passing”. I feel like by contrast the new album explores more melodic sounds and allows the hip-hop/pop influence in our music to shine through a bit more brightly. Generally, as we continue to create work, we continue to gain confidence, for me a major part of this is getting out of my own way. I feel like I am allowing the more spiritual and emotional sides of myself through, noise is less present and we are leaning into the importance of the lyrics more than ever before.
What was it like working with Tony Doogan at Castle of Doom studios on this album?
Working with Tony Doogan was an incredible experience, one I will always remember. It was quite a new experience to us to have a bit more time to delve into the songs and it was so liberating to work alongside someone who was actively doing their best to improve every tune. He would constantly suggest things, he gave so much important feedback to my vocals, which allowed them to be as clear as possible. We also just had a laugh together, sitting, chatting, joking about, blaring Iron Maiden through the high-quality studio speakers. We appreciated his no nonsense approach because we have a similar one.
Can you describe the creative process behind your music, and how it has evolved over time?
Our process is fairly simple. I (Natalie) like to constantly write ideas on the laptop, wildly ranging in their sounds, and we regularly practice together in order to continue honing our set and try these new ideas out. We generally just play them a lot, without discussing it, and let the tunes go where ever they go. I will mumble melodies along at first before writing the lyrics. This process has generally stayed true throughout our time working together. I have gotten more interested in mapping out songs before we start working on them, so we can have more complex structures, but we generally evolve naturally without discussing it because we rely on our instincts and we are both interested in pushing ourselves further into the unknown.
As a band, you reject industry standards in songwriting and production. How does this approach contribute to your music?
This approach I feel gives our music the most freedom. I don’t think I would feel empowered to explore my voice if we were trying to tick boxes. I love pop music, I love traditional music, but it’s not me. I want to create work as wild as a forest as chaotic as the wind, I want to fall deep down the endless stream in my heart, I don’t think following other people’s rules will help me achieve that. I have a long way to go, our entire lives we learn to play by rules we didn’t agree too, I would love to disregard everything I know and create from the purest place in my soul.
Your band name, Comfort, seems at odds with the challenging and emotional nature of your music. Can you talk about the choice of name and how it reflects your music?
At first, we chose the name because we didn’t want our band’s name to give any indication of what we were making. As time goes on, I think it’s the perfect name for what we’re doing, I think subconsciously when we started creating work that’s what I was looking for “comfort” and as I allow myself to speak to all the emotions of my being, I think that is what our band brings. Comfort through solidarity, through baring witness to reality, through helping myself and anyone with similar experiences feel less alone. I’ve never found much solace in escapism, I want someone to hold me and tell me they get it, they know how it feels, and they survived it.
What inspired you to form a band that resists traditions?
Traditions are barriers, why deny yourself the beauty of singing just because you don’t sound traditional? When it comes to music/art standards are based on colonial aesthetics which are driven with the sole intent to make money. Good and bad don’t exist, the trees don’t know aesthetics. Similarly, I don’t want to limit myself to someone else’s vision, I want to be as free as possible when I create because freedom is in short supply in today’s world. When every other facet of your life is beholden to something, why force that on your art too?
Can you tell us about your experiences performing in Glasgow's queer/punk scene?
Glasgow is a beautiful place. It is a city full of people who want to hear you, are interested in what you have to say, and want you to do well. There is so many things happening it’s impossible for me as one person to even comprehend what’s going on. But no matter what you make there will be a place for you here, in the queer scene people are warm welcoming, look out for each other and do everything they can to build a community which is welcoming and self-sustaining. Through a love for each other, a love for a better future, and an expectation that it will happen.
Your lyrics often touch on political and social issues. What issues are you most passionate about, and why?
I don’t really feel as if there is a hierarchy to my interest in injustices. I want the world to be a freer more tender place, I want those yet to be born to have a planet to thrive on. I want the end of marginalization, I want the end of white supremacy, of capitalism, of pain. All these issues feed into each other because they all affect each other, and I want to learn the ways I am wrong, the ways I harm, and heal, so that I can help others heal. I have no interest in looking down on others, I have my eyes fixed on those who truly have the power, because I realize more every day that we have the strength in numbers. We have been played against each other to benefit those in power, but no riches can still the turning of history.
How does being siblings impact your creative process as a band?
It gives us more freedom; we know each other so deeply that we don’t need to talk everything through. I trust Sean implicitly, he trusts me, I would never tell him what to do. We come from the same place, we share a lot of experiences, we want each other to grow strong and further realize our innate beauty.
Your music has been described as "undefinable yet danceable". How do you balance experimentation with accessibility in your music?
Don’t resist the banger. I feel like prioritizing your own creative or emotional expression leads to this. We are not trying to make our music as “weird” as possible; we are not trying to be anything. We resist intellectualizing our process because we are all about expressing ourselves, I think this plays a big part in allowing the music to attain a certain level of accessibility. However, the songs come out is fine, where ever our inspiration takes us is fine, I don’t want our music to be traditional and but I don’t want it to become habitual either. Life is fluid, every direction at once, we try to allow our music to take the same shape.
Your music videos are self-produced. How does the visual aspect of your music contribute to your message?
Music videos are a great way to capture the feeling of the song. It’s something we’ve experimented with since we got commissioned to do an audio/visual piece for West Denn Haag. You can use the video to enhance what the song is trying to say, like with our video for Real Woman, we took each lyric apart and thought of all the visual ways we could represent what the song is trying to say. It is also a great way to bring more fun to the process as we can let loose a bit and just have fun.
In an industry where playlists and aesthetics are king, how do you stay true to your artistic vision?
You just have to constantly resist the voice in your head telling you to worry about numbers or metrics. It is very easy to get bogged down in a follower count or a monthly listener count, but none of it matters. For me I constantly remind myself that all the cravings for more people to know me, to be admired or popular, etc, are learnt capitalist bullshit masquerading as real desire. If money did not exist none of us would care how many people are into what we do, we would be free to create and love the process. No life, no art is less valuable than the rest, what I do does not make me more important or valuable than anyone. Creativity is a natural part of existence, everyone dreams, everyone speaks in poetry, the best gift I can give myself is to allow that creativity to take shape however it wants. If I wanted to shift product I would’ve got into marketing.
What do you hope audiences take away from your music?
I hope they feel more free, more inspired, less alone, empowered. Anything. It’s not up to me to say what people think, but I hope if anything, good or bad, it makes them feel something. And if anyone who wants to create something hears us I hope it helps them discover that their heart has always been open. Trans people (and everyone) listening, I hope you can take away the fact that no matter where you are or how you are feeling, it is ok. We all deserve more, we will all get more, we can all demand it.
