Lost in Time: Comus – First Utterance

Style: Progressive folk/rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: yeah idk about this one chief, King Crimson maybe? Opeth?
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 19 February 1971

One of the many wonders of music history to me is how such complicated and out-there music as progressive rock was at the forefront of mainstream music in the 1970s. Somehow, a perfect storm formed to break from the music industry’s usual streamlined simplicity for the lowest common denominator. But even within that era of seemingly unbridled experimentation, there were acts which were simply too weird, too uncompromisingly creative for the industry, and thus fell to the wayside. Comus is such a band; formed by art students Roger Wootton and Glenn Goring loosely based upon a shared adoration of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band’s “monumentally atmospheric and quirky” live shows. The band rose to prominence in their local scene through playing at folk clubs around the London borough of Bromley, eventually releasing their debut First Utterance in 1971, an album so weird and genre-bending that their label Pye Studios didn’t know how to market it, and that VIP music journalist Penny Valentine described it as “a cat being strangled.” Fans loved it, labels hated it, and later it became a cult classic; the perfect Prog Subway material!

While I in no way condone animal cruelty, the unsettling nature of the music in this album may as well evoke such mental imagery; Comus do not shy away from the ugly or the uncomfortable in the slightest, something instantiated well by the opening song “Diana.” It seems like a merry tune at the surface because of its jaunty folk rhythm and playful vocal cadences, but the rhythm is played in atonal chords, and the vocal melodies are sung with deeply unsettling and high pitched nasality, twisting the song’s merry character into a horrifyingly suspenseful one. Eventually violin and Middle-Eastern percussion take over to drive up the suspense in a thrilling chase sequence with a sinister end, thoroughly immersing you in Comus’s strange world. A quick look at the lyrics also confirms the song’s horrifying nature, detailing a twisted tale wherein its namesake is raped in the forest by a man whose lust has overtaken his sanity.

Comus has a very peculiar base sound within the prog rock sphere. The conventional rock instruments (that being electric guitar, bass, and a drum kit) are nowhere to be found, and they do not use a synthesizer either like most of their peers. Instead, rhythm is created through hand drums and other unlisted percussion instruments, acoustic guitar, and occasionally, the violin, and melody comes from the plethora of folk instruments used, the acoustic guitars, and a wide range of vocal techniques. What’s really fascinating though about Comus is how they let each component run independently, but still manage to tie them together into a cohesive whole. None of the individual elements are particularly complex for prog rock standards, but the greater whole is nothing short of mesmerizing. 

And the songwriting is just as layered and dynamic as the arrangements are. Comus sweep you along through their immersive world of psychedelia with guile, never losing the plot despite all the contrasting moods it goes through, from bubbly folk passages like in “The Bite” to the suspenseful strumming with dramatic vocals of “Drip Drip” to the frequent psychedelic passages and skin-crawling atonal chords. Each song is replete with clever vocal lines, impactful lead melodies, and a well thought out musical story arc with a memorable climax. The song “Drip Drip” in particular is a whirlwind of moods that somehow still manages to be monumentally catchy and it delivers one of the greatest climaxes I have ever heard, and closer “The Prisoner” also ends the album with an absolute bang of a crescendo.

The major exception on First Utterance is the second song, “The Herald,” which abandons the dynamism and unsettling nature of the rest of the material; instead, the track takes you on a beautiful, otherworldly twelve minute journey, gradually unfurling around acoustic guitar picking through gentle woodwind instruments, sliding bass, violin, and co-singer Bobbie Watson’s breathtakingly ethereal singing. The original version was only five minutes, but it was later extended for unknown reasons. Not that I’m complaining though; the song’s brilliant, and fits well within the album’s flow despite how different it is to the rest. 

Comus is a band like no other. The fact that half a century later there still hasn’t been a band able to recreate the magic of First Utterance is a testament to its quality and uniqueness. Among major prog musicians, only the legend Mikael Akerfeldt seems to have cited significant influence from this album. He even went as far to name the Opeth album My Arms Your Hearse after a lyric from “Drip Drip.” In fact, Mikael was so enamored with First Utterance that he once teamed up with the Swedish festival Melloboat 2008 organizer Stefan Dimle to email Comus so incessantly to perform that they came out of retirement just for that festival and made a live CD of it. So to wrap things up, if my words weren’t enough to convince you of Comus’s greatness, take it from the man, the myth, the legend, Mikael Akerfeldt himself that First Utterance is 1000% worth your time.

Recommended tracks: Drip Drip if you want a taste, otherwise everything
You may also like: No one sounds like Comus

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | RYM page

Label: Pye Records – Facebook | Official Website

Comus is:
– Roger Wootton (lead vocals, acoustic guitar)
– Colin Pearson (violin, viola)
– Glen Goring (6-string & 12-string acoustic guitars, slide & electric guitars, hand drums, vocals)
– Andy Hellaby (fender bass, slide bass, vocals)
– Rob Young (flute, oboe, hand drums)
– Bobbie Watson (vocals, percussion)