The Comas - Conductor

Genre rock Publisher Yep Roc Records External Links Yep Rock Records

No longer content to mock the alt country set, this North Carolina quartet switches gears to hypnotic space rock. And not just to catch up to the current musical moment either, but because frontman Andy Herod has decided to Express Himself. Herod has no use for the usual attraction to/repulsion from technology schtick, instead adopting those sci-fi metaphors to tell the oldest story in the world: the agonizing breakup, in this case from Dawson's Creek sweetheart Michelle Williams.

Beginning his opus with a vicious breakup song wedded to a seductive faux flamenco guitar line, he segues to a number about "going too far," and climaxes with the self-referential epic "Tonight on the WB," which could be about his love life, but also about his artistic life as well: "We love it when you fall apart/Turn it into higher art." After that, what else is left to do but chase "Invisible Drugs" -- anything unobtainable, really -- "under the carpet/under the stars/over a rainbow/into your arms." When he subsequently mars his best tune with an overly literal sci-fi fantasy, it's all downhill from there, except for the sarcastic lyric of "Employment" ("This is what it's like to get your love from all around") and the ominous "Hologram," about his two dimensional life. Special kudos to Nicole Gehweiler, whose backing vocals provide that essential humanizing element that every self-respecting space rocker needs, and usually doesn't get.