Words by Willa Rudolph / Photos by Yehoshuah Sejour
After a month away from The Deli I am back [editor’s note: thank goodness!] in time to announce Brooklyn’s post-punk Komodos’ new single “Deliverance.”
An upbeat drumbeat ushers us into droning feedback that erupts into a fuzzy guitar riff, with the lead singer Taran’s sonorous voice dancing on top. Taran uses different tones and intonations and ways of singing throughout the song, going deeper and growling, then talking, and then singing more softly. As the song progresses, his voice gets progressively more impassioned, as the drums intensify and the guitar responds longingly to Taran’s voice.
Komodos is Hunter Boivin (guitar), Ben Baumann (bass), Kabir Dugal (drums), and Taran Dugal (vocals and guitar). They’ve been playing together for about two and a half years, but the current grouping has only been together a year. “It’s dope to be in a band with some of your best friends, and it feels really good to have a shared vision of what we want to achieve and become,” Taran explains.
With elements of Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, and The Smiths, “Deliverance” is one of those upbeat tunes with minor chords that makes you dance your dance but also feel your feelings, delivering a little pang to the heart…
Komodos will be releasing more songs this summer leading up to their debut EP, so keep an eye out! They haven’t announced it yet, but they plan to keep releasing music and release the EP at the end of 2024. [editor’s note: a Deli scoop!] “We’re going to try and let the songs breathe and realize themselves organically,” Taran says. Here’s what Komodos had to tell The Deli about “Deliverance”:
WR: What inspired “Deliverance”? The sound, the lyrics …
Taran: It all started with Hunter’s verse riff…the feel of the song, earnest and kinda brooding, developed naturally from that, and the arpeggios in the chorus, with those chords underneath them, to me feel like a climax of that same energy. As far as lyrics go, I don’t really believe in ascribing specific meanings to songs. For me it strikes a chord related to saving graces in the face of selfishness and self-destruction, and the fact that those graces are nuanced and can have their own pitfalls…but I think a lot of different meanings can be taken from it.
Kabir: We wrote the main parts of Deliverance during a writing phase this past winter. The sound is generally inspired by our influences, with elements of post-punk, garage rock and shoegazey sounds. It represents a step toward the collective sound of our group.
Ben: This track is a coming together of a lot of the things we’ve been working to weave into our sound. A rhythm you can dance to, massive vaulting lead guitar tones, and an overall rough and edgy texture. When writing the bass line I tried to find the most catchy rhythm I could and kept the notes really simple – I think that was a lot of our progress on this song, figuring out when to do less.
Hunter: I wrote the first parts of this on an acoustic guitar around Christmas time in New York. The idea started as a 6-bar loop which was kinda weird, but had a cool bounce to it. That’s the basis of the rhythm part you’ll hear in the verse. I stumbled on the arpeggio part by adding some open strings to the verse chords, which had a really interesting feel. The pre-chorus hits a mode that I really liked, and kind of carries through the chorus as well as the song. Definitely somewhat inspired by some Radiohead songs that have a similar floaty vibe.
If “Deliverance” was on a playlist with 3 other songs that are not by Komodos, what songs would it be?
Taran: “Free Money” – Patti Smith, “Perfect” – Smashing Pumpkins, “Venus” – Television
Kabir: “Televised Mind” by Fontaines D.C., “The Happening” by Pixies
Hunter: “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” – Radiohead, “Radioactive” – Kings of Leon
What are some of your biggest influences musically?
Taran: I get a lot of lyrical inspiration from poetry. Arthur Rimbaud, Rabindranath Tagore, Herman Hesse and Patti Smith, to name a few off the top of my head. As far as guitar goes, I definitely take a lot of inspiration from ’90s and ’00s bands – Oasis, Interpol, The Strokes. As a band, I think we have some DNA in common with melodic post-punk(ish) / garage-y groups like Pixies and Fontaines D.C.
Kabir: Interpol, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Oasis, Fontaines D.C, my bloody valentine
Hunter: Rolling Stones, Bloc Party, Kings of Leon, the Strokes
Ben: Radiohead, Interpol, Fontaines D.C., Wunderhorse
