In this interview spotlight, I chat with Bradley Coomes about the latest release (Communion), surviving the lock downs, technology and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?

I’m originally from a tiny town called Owensboro in Western Kentucky, but I’ve lived in Louisville since 1995. Lately I’ve been describing my music as dreamy and noisy. I seem to vacillate between dreamy/pretty sounds and experimental/noisy sounds. Sometimes I combine the two. Some of my main influences are the Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Can….I could go on for a long time.

How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?

Ever since I got my first guitar (I think I was 14) all I ever really wanted to do was play music with my friends and make records. I tried when I was younger to make a career out of music, but it just didn’t work out. As I got older it became clearer and clearer that music would never be my main way of making a living, but I never stopped. I’ve taken breaks from being in bands, but never for too long. And now, I’m not in a “band”, but I’m more productive musically than I’ve ever been. Now I find myself just trying to spread the word about my music – not trying to “make it.”

How does your latest project compare/contrast with your previous release(s)? Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?

I started writing for this latest record before the last one even came out so the songs sounded very similar to the ones on The Work – guitar oriented shoegaze. After a while I realized I didn’t really want to put out two similar records in a row so I started looking for collaborators. I asked around amongst friends and in Facebook music groups and eventually found the right mix of vocalists to work with. I guess I “can” sing a little bit, but I’m not a particularly strong vocalist, so I just sent and found some singers. We ended up doing the whole thing remotely – the vocalists would send me their tracks and I would produce everything from home. Sometimes I would end up changing songs to better highlight a vocal performance, so really my collaborators were shaping the record more than they realized at the time. The record (Communion) sounds nothing like the album I set out to make right after The Work came out, but I’m glad I switched things up.

Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all this?

This may sound weird, but I’ve never been more productive than I’ve been over the last two years. I’ve really thrown myself into home recording/producing and honestly, I’m much more satisfied than I had been playing in bands the previous few years. Don’t get me wrong, playing in a band can be great, but so is not having to leave the house to play music, getting to play all the parts in a song, and getting to make all the creative decisions.

What was the last song you listened to?

Tomorrow Started by Talk Talk. I really, really love that song.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?

I prefer vinyl, but I rarely listen to records anymore. Nowadays I mainly listen to music I’ve loaded onto my phone or streaming.

Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey?

The best way to reach me and find out about everything I have going on is to visit bradleycoomesmusic.com. There you’ll find my blog, my store, pictures, videos, links to previous bands, playlists, etc.

I really appreciate Your time. Anything else before we sign off?

Thanks so much for your time and I encourage everyone to check out all the artists I collaborated with on Communion: Male Tears, Coor Brow-Obles, Mike Mannequin, Jackie Kasbohm (of Echodrone) , Jennifer Wilde (of Sword Tongue), Color Crush, Bow Ever Down, and Emilio Enriguez Rodriguez (of Jaus).