Prior to appearing at Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival 2021, Danalogue, from the Mercury Prize-nominated The Comet Is Coming, tells BrumNotes how the three piece psych/ jazz/ prog act create their material.
“The sound is recorded at the moment of first creation, to create an intensity, bottled lightening, excitement. Improvisation is the same as composition, only sped up! So you have to make decisions in a split second,” explains Danalogue aka Dan Leavers (who also records with Soccer96).
“We all enjoy this high stakes scenario, and we go into some deep and unexpected territories because of this method. We are also communicating purely through sound, so its like a shared dream or cooperative sonic adventure.
“I was producing music for ten years or so before we started Comet, and had that ‘bedroom producer’ approach, flipping beats, writing through recording process, and using experimental studio effects,” says the producer, who formed The Comet Is Coming with Betamax (aka Max Hallett) and King Shabaka (aka Birmingham-raised saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings).
“So even though now we are able to record in decent recording studios, this production approach is integral to the sound.
“In combination with our improvisations, the arrangements, edits and overdubs are a huge part of our sound.
“In the ‘old days’ bands would afford a few months in the studio to make a record, so we can actually make a record with that much care and deliberation by recording the initial material in 3-4 days, and then spending months afterwards organising it into an album.
“It takes a lot of trust.”
The Comet Is Coming appear as part of the Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival, Friday 20 to Sunday 22 August 2021. Also appearing are Hot Chip Megamix, Cinematic Orchestra, Cymande, Nubya Garcia, Kofi Stone, Xhosa Cole, Sam Redmore and more. Tickets available now via: mostlyjazz.co.uk
For more information about The Comet Is Coming see: www.thecometiscoming.co.uk
