comfort

Today, sibling duo Comfort share new album What’s Bad Enough? via Fatcat Records. Developing their sound through years of intensive writing and performing in spaces aligned with Glasgow's queer/punk scene, their set up consists of Sean on drums and Natalie as magnetic frontwoman, backed by wildly oscillating software synths to create music that is direct and engaging.

In an industry where playlists are king, and aesthetic rules, Comfort are unconcerned with fitting in. As the validity of trans identities is consistently in question, Comfort create music demanding freedom not tolerance - they have reinterpreted the ethos of punk music for the 21st century sending a clear message that they hold no interest in finding a middle ground with bigotry.

Recorded with Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub) at Castle of Doom studios in Glasgow, tracks across What’s Bad Enough? touch on themes from the inherent prejudice throughout our culture ('Never Been Ignorant') and the pressure to conform as a queer person ('Cowardice In Numbers'), through to the unhinged nature of capitalism ('Normal Till It’s Not') and the damaging ideologies surrounding grind culture ('Billionaire Potential').

Combining sparse industrial soundscapes with pulsating beats, and avant-garde, hook-filled electronics, What’s Bad Enough? is a consummate snapshot of their undefinable yet danceable output, which at times calls to mind the output of the Anticon collective. Accompanied by self-produced music videos, both projects are a snapshot of a group disengaged from genre specifics.

As siblings, Natalie and Sean’s deep understanding and unwavering trust of one another allows them to push each other beyond self-imposed thresholds. Through consistently recording their writing process, they build upon their initial reactions to ideas forming structures out of improvisation to create an organic and flow-like state to their music. Lyrically Natalie is inspired by her lived experience of a near perpetual injustice, the assertion that all art is essentially political runs through their work.

The new album comes after debut album Not Passing, and on the heels of the band’s genre-defying All Fears, Fully Formed EP, which came out last year and saw the duo further push the envelope of the uncompromising beat-driven sound. The band's infectious energy and raw messages have seen them earn early plaudits at press both on record and for the sheer power of their live shows, having played alongside the likes of Armand Hammer, Goat Girl, and Protomartyr.