Comfort / Still House Plants

Comfort is a sibling duo from Glasgow consisting of Sean McGhee on drums and Natalie McGhee as vocalist and magnetic frontwoman, backed by wildly oscillating synths. Comfort stand defiantly queer in a social landscape that has proved fertile ground for transphobia. Natalie McGhee channels an honesty and determination into her lyrics about her life as a trans woman and the continued rejection and disregard of people who do not conform to common gender expectations. Musically, Comfort reinterpret the ethos of punk music for the 21st century and are heavily influenced by hip hop, conveying a clear message without compromise. In a way, Comfort sometimes sound like a TINFLA version of the Sleaford Mods, but Seans’ tight and groovy drumming makes the sound a little more rounded and at times even more punk.

For a long time now, no guitar, drums and vocals formation has sounded as unusual and irritating as the Glasgow trio Still House Plants, who have been living in London for a while now. Influenced by repetition in club music and modal jazz as well as a preference for the slowcore of bands such as Codeine and Low, Jessica Hickie-Kallenbach, David Kennedy and Finlay Clarkan have developed a sound that constantly breaks apart and flows back together again. In recent years, they have become an elusive but often mentioned and highly appreciated band, who (alongside Loraine James and Arca) were also part of Tirzah’s remix album Highgrade.