Don’t let the name fool you, the person behind this project is one man: Chris Spino. Spino is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who created this indie/folk-rock project. He is from Atlanta and currently based in LA. Spino has roots in the lo-fi/neo-garage style, he’s also explored jangly alt-country and he’s settled on psych-folk.
Coma Girl’s first self-titled album that was released in 2015 was reminiscent of Atlanta artists and style but it had a lot of rock and roll elements.The latest news for Chris Spino is a second full length album. We can expect this second album to be a shoegazey folk-rock album. “No Umbrella For Star Flower ”, will take us through one of his most transitional stages during the pandemic.
“It’s a pandemic record, a relapse record, a break-up record, and a recovery record. This was the thing that was keeping me sane.” Says Spino in an interview with baby robot media.
Coma Girls has taken many forms in the decade or so that it was created. It started as an outlet for his solo singer/songwriter material, it has existed as a solo project, a band, and a number of different studio musicians. The second full length album No Umbrella For Star Flower is a two-man collaboration between Spino and producer Christian Paul Philippe.
“I played about 95% of the record and Christian produced the whole thing,” says Spino. “We were talking a lot about Sparklehorse and the dynamic between Mark Linkous and Dangermouse, or Christopher Owens and Chet White from Girls, just that two-handed approach.
Chris Spino did all the songwriting, soundscapes, string arrangements and Christian made the sound styles. The album also features Dan Gee from Tropa Magica, who contributed piano to three tracks on the record. Connor “Catfish” Gallaher the pedal steel player who has worked with Black Lips, Tim Heidecker & Weyes Blood. Rosselinni Rogel and Paige Vreede are featured as background vocalists.
Spino has released “Knife” along with a music video to go with it. It has a lot of production for a folk-rock song. He’s also released “Jaded” which has the lyrics of a heartfelt folk song but is full of shoe-gaze guitar. This song is about the challenge of cycling through recovery and relapse. “Aquariums” has similar themes of addiction and alcoholism. It’s about the burden that addiction has on their loved ones. He reflects on personal challenges and experiences in these songs.
“Cutting lyrics and gauzy layers of sound … at once wound and bandage. Spino’s vocal delivery walks the razor’s edge between genuine devastation and sardonic self-deprecation.” Says Spill Magazine. These songs show us themes that No Umbrella For Star Flowers will have. Spino will attempt to be honest and vulnerable about his struggles with addiction, love, depression and more.“I started this project with the idea of playing pop music the way a punk band would,” says Spino. “But now, I’m more focused on just writing songs without any preconceived notion of genre. I like to think that if I stay true to that and make things I really believe in, then other people will feel that too.”
No Umbrella For Star Flower is out now.
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