There might only be one person that can play a show and leave people convinced it’s a wedding. She’s draped in veils, light as love, and as gothically luring as a siren to the sea. She’s Comet. A dark, grueling voice atop cataclysmic, distortion-soaked instrumentation that tugs fans down the matrimonial aisle.
When she plays, the room doesn’t feel like a venue so much as a ceremony already in progress. Guitars swell like organ pipes in a collapsing cathedral, drums crack like vows spoken too loudly to take back, and somewhere in the haze of feedback and incense-thick air, Comet stands at the altar she built herself. There’s something theatrical about it, but not in a rehearsed way – more like you’ve stumbled into a ritual halfway through and no one’s stopping you from staying.
Thanks for coming to the wedding, you may now read about the bride.
How has your unofficial South by Southwest experience been?
It’s been chill. We played at Pearl Street Co-op, and now we’re about to play at 21st Street Co-op.
Is there anybody that you’re super excited to play beside?
I’m super excited to play with Empty Shell Casing, honestly. They’re one of my favorite bands in Texas.
Do you have a personal connection with them?
We played with them in October, the last time we came through here, and I thought they were so sick.
You’ve played shows all around the US and Europe; do you have a favorite place that you’ve been to?
I really liked playing Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. It’s this small little town, and they throw a festival called Creepy Teepee there. It was so fun.
I’m going to Prague soon, so maybe I’ll make the stop.
It’s kind of near Prague. They have this awesome bone church there called the [Sedlec] Ossuary. It’s really weird. It’s cool. It’s a bunch of monk skeletons, and they have thousands of bones. Human remains. They make chandeliers out of them. It’s so crazy, actually, it’s awesome.
How do you think the Austin scene compares to some of the other places you’ve been?
It seems really tight-knit. My friend Cristina has told me about it. I can’t speak too much on the Austin scene because I’ve only played one show here – or I guess two now. This is my first day in town, so I haven’t spent too much time here to understand the local scene, but it seems lively.
I would love to talk about your new single, ‘Homunculus.’ What’s the creative inspiration behind it?
It came from the idea of alchemy and making a human from scratch, being a man-made human. Everyone, throughout their life, builds themselves from scratch and has to find their own identity. I think the idea of synthesizing your own vessel is what ‘Homunculus’ is about.
Do you write from personal experiences, or do you kind of create characters or narratives?
I feel like both, but of course, everything intrinsically is written from my perspective. I definitely try to push it out to be a little more character-sounding. But of course, all I know is what I know.
I love the costume that you wear in the music video. What was the idea behind it?
Everything now is so beauty and porny. Everyone’s so sexy, so perfect, perfect hair, perfect face, perfect body. At times, I’ve fed into that, so just doing something where I felt really ugly and stripped. I think in some ways it’s still kind of weirdly beautiful. But it definitely was one that I don’t do all the things I hide behind, like hair and eyebrows and makeup and whatever. I felt very naked. I just kind of wanted that. Then at the end, transforming into the full glam. It’s kind of a cliché idea.
How much creative direction did you get with that video?
I mean, the concepts I came up with by myself, and then my friend Sharleen helped with the movement and the framing and all that stuff. I made the shot list, the mood board, the idea and everything, but Sharleen really helped execute it to the fullest extent.
Is ‘Homunculus’ going to be part of an album or EP?
It’s a part of our first album that will be out in the fall. We have another single coming out in April, which will kind of be a continuation of the ‘Homunculus’ video.
What are some inspirations for the album?
The album goes to a lot of different places. It goes through grunge music, shoegaze and singer-songwriter. Then there are some tracks that dip into nu metal. It’s exploring a lot of themes of just becoming a person. I don’t know, it’s corny sounding, but I feel like it’ll make sense once everyone hears it.
It’s your debut album! How does that feel?
It feels good. A lot of people put a weird weight behind albums now. Everyone’s like, ‘Don’t release an album until you’re super famous.’ But it’s just time. I feel like we have an album to release. I have enough songs that I’ve written, and it’s time to release a full idea.
Do you think songwriting comes super easily to you?
It depends on the song. Sometimes a song will come to me super quick and it’ll just work. Then sometimes I’ll come up with an idea and think it sucks, and then months later I’ll revisit it. Sometimes it’ll be really hard for me to write past the first chorus, and I won’t know where to go next. But sometimes it all just comes at once. It really depends.
How does performing live compare to your studio sound?
It’s definitely more raw. The album is honestly pretty produced, which is cool, but I think us live is definitely a more raw sound.
How do you personally classify your sound?
I used to say grunge, and I feel like it’s still kind of grunge sometimes, but the album is closer to goth rock, a lot of the time.
Do you have any other heavy inspirations behind the album that aren’t music related?
Honestly, old medical procedures, experimental medicine and early surgery. Also, the New Orleans Red Light District Storyville is really inspirational. Then goth rock from the 90s, like Evanescence and Marilyn Manson, and also sludge metal, like Acid Bath and Crowbar and all of those bands.
I usually ask this in the beginning but I glazed over it. How did music come to you?
I’ve always wanted to, ever since I was a child. I would make up songs in the car and sing them out the window and annoy my parents. I’ve always wanted to make music and then in high school, one day my friend Savannah showed me this song. I was like, ‘oh, I wish I could play guitar.’ She was like, ‘I can’t play guitar. I just come up with random shit and record it.’ I was like, ‘Whoa, you can do that?’ So I bought a guitar and started learning it and making songs for fun when I was 16. I started a band when I was 18, and I’ve been in a few bands since.
If your music were a film genre, what do you think it would be?
Something a really annoying man would show you and swear was cool. Some shit on Criterion, to be honest. Everyone would be like, ‘shut the fuck up.’
What do you hope this next year looks like for you as an artist?
Dope as fuck. I love the album and I hope everyone loves it too.
Do you have any other projects besides the new single and music video?
We’re doing music videos for the next few singles. We’re releasing a few more singles before the album comes out. I’m doing a monthly show series in New York with my friends Taraneh and Cristina. We’re trying to tie this New York scene together a bit more because there’s a lot of awesome stuff going on, but there’s not a center point. So that’s been fun to do.
