Simon Comber Endearance Tour

With special guest Rebekah Davies.

Simon Comber's first album Pre-Pill Love, introduced New Zealand to a songwriter of quiet insight and shrewd economy. Songs such as Early Spring Rain, Sunday Horrors and Marylands said what they had to say (on topics ranging from watching horror movies with the one you love to child abuse) and got the hell out, occasionally not even breaking the 2 minute mark.

Over the last few years Comber has become attached to a Japanese Jazzmaster, found his way around a few alternate tunings for said Jazzmaster, and more importantly, written material for a follow up album.

His sophomore release Endearance demonstrates not only that Comber may well be incapable of giving an album a market friendly title, but also that he has grown more comfortable with taking his sweet time in a song, with many stretching past the 5 minute mark. Though his love of narrative songwriting has not diminished, with songs like The Jaws of Life and Please Elvis staring down the barrel of family dysfunction with characteristic lyrical candour, the guitar makes it's presence felt more. One song even has what could arguably be called (depending on your definition) a SOLO, and the title track is the first guitar instrumental sans lyric he has ever composed. Recorded at the Masonic Lodge in Port Chalmers, Comber enlisted the help of Dale Cotton (Conray), Darren Stedman (The Verlaines) and Tom Healy (The Low Spark) to contribute engineering, drums and bass respectively and help bring his new songs to fruition. The result is a brooding electric folk rock album of great beauty - an album worthy of your attention.

Slice of life songwriting with a strong whiff of Port Chalmers:
It's reassuring that while there are many heartfelt words to be found on Dunedin-based (and escapee Aucklander) Comber's second album, there's absolutely nothing that could be interpreted as a generic love lyric. In fact, what distinguishes Comber from the zombie singer-songwriter legions are his slice of life narratives that manage to evoke the stark reality of humdrum suburban lives - that is, everything from a day's worth of human dramas to the screaming terror within. Comber's music is mostly staged with just appealing fingerpicked acoustic guitar and voice and although that voice is not of particular note (it's high and reedy) it's one that commands respect because it perfectly and eloquently carries the words and emotions he intends to it to. Comber is shaping up to join that rare and environmentally endangered, esoteric, unpredictable and literate Kiwi breed known as "Billis Direenis." Gary Steel Real Groove

Event listed by Simon Vare

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