Reuben Bettsak is no stranger to collaboration. The Boston multi-intrumentalist is probably best known for his work in psych-gaze ensemble Guillermo Sexo and trippy space-pop quintet Future Carnivores, but has resurfaced once again with a new project that meets somewhere between the two, if that middle grounded was shrouded in enough fuzz to catch all the lads in Supergrass.
Dubbed Emerald Comets, the project started as a solo tip at the initiative request of music blog Clicky Clicky, and now features collaborative contributions from members of the Wrong Shapes, Drab, Washington DC’s Insect Factory, and of course, Guillermo Sexo. Emerald Comets’ latest EP, Transformations, dropped last week and can be heard via the Bandcamp link below.
Songs like “Inside Dream Room” and “Unsleeping Eye” have a mystical pop feel to them, while EP standout “Stolen Kisses” urges the listener dig deep under the tasty reverberations and buzzing to find a candy-coated guitar-pop center.
“Originally the songs were written and recorded as part of a Clicky Clicky 30-day project,” Bettsak tells Vanyaland. “I was to write and record songs from scratch, [and] all those songs ended in this. I was into a lot of the songs and decided to re-record them at Ryan Lee Crosby’s house on his 8-track reel to reel, like I did the first EP. And with Bo Barringer on bass, Jeff Barsky on guitar, Ryan Connelly on drums, etc. So the songs were conceived as a total different thing from Guillermo. I wrote the songs, but everyone kinda came up with their parts basically.”
A new record from Guillermo Sexo, the follow-up to 2013’s beautifully haunting Dark Spring LP, is expected later this year. In the meantime, Bettsak has the Comets, and his friends, to hold us over.
