Comets On Fire at SP20

Shortly after the release of 2006's Avatar, Comets on Fire went on "indefinite hiatus." You may remember Sleater-Kinney doing the same thing, redefining the idea of "broken up" into an open-ended concept. In all seriousness, though, the chief members of Comets on Fire had always followed their own creative paths outside of the band and this "time off" was spent pursuing them. Guitarist Ben Chasny had been principally focused on his avant-Asian-folk trip as Six Organs of Admittance since the late '90s, electronicist Noel Von Harmonson had been into noisy experimentation, drummer Utrillo Kushner had been doing his sentimental '70s piano thing as Colossal Yes (as well as having a fucking child), while Ethan Miller's cocaine-sprinkled-on-hash hippie-jammers Howlin' Rain went and got signed to American Records and toured with the Black Crowes (wha?) But these divergent paths were what kept the Comet flame burning all along, and the fact that they've spent time away from each other should translate into them being even more fired up. Add that to the celebratory nature of the weekend and their set should be like one great blast of hallucinogenic spray across the sky.
Sun., July 13, 6 p.m., 2008