The Comet Is Coming

Identified by the monikers Betamax Killer, Danalogue the Conqueror, and King Shabaka—belonging respectively to drummer Maxwell Hallett, keyboardist Dan Leavers, and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings—the Comet Is Coming coined the phrase “apocalyptic space funk” to encapsulate their deliberate fusion of jazz, funk, electronica, psychedelia, hip-hop, and collective improvisation. Taking their name from a BBC Radiophonic Workshop piece, the trio spent several months refining their approach before surfacing intact amid South London’s vibrant, interconnected slipstream-jazz community and entering the studio almost at once. They joined the Leaf roster and delivered the widely praised EP Prophecy in 2015, then issued their first album, Channel the Spirits, the following year; the record earned a Mercury Prize nomination. Two years later the group moved to Impulse Records and unveiled Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery in early 2019.

Before the Comet Is Coming assembled in 2013, the London musicians maintained multiple parallel outlets. The project originated when the Soccer96 duo of Betamax Killer and Danalogue the Conqueror noticed “a tall shadowy figure” lingering beside the stage with saxophone in hand during one of their gigs; they invited the musician onstage, resulting in an entirely spontaneous performance that the audience embraced, prompting the three to launch the Comet Is Coming and pursue shared enthusiasms for Sun Ra, Jimi Hendrix, John and Alice Coltrane, Can, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, techno, house, grime, and forward-thinking hip-hop. In addition to Hallett and Leavers’ work as Soccer96, Hutchings was active with Melt Yourself Down, Sons of Kemet, and further ensembles. Buoyed by those exploratory sessions, the trio signed with Leaf and released Prophecy—an urgent, rhythm-driven five-track EP—in November 2015. Their 2016 debut album Channel the Spirits reinforced their standing as a visceral, high-impact intergalactic groove unit laced with apocalyptic overtones and appeared on the Mercury Prize shortlist.

Once Sons of Kemet delivered their charting Impulse debut Your Queen Is a Reptile in 2018, the label added the Comet Is Coming to its roster. The group returned to the studio and produced Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery, which the band characterized as “a 21st century take on spiritual jazz that is part Alice Coltrane, part Blade Runner,” and which included a vocal cameo by Kate Tempest on the opening single “Blood of the Past.” Later that year they issued the companion EP The Afterlife.

After the pandemic halted live activity throughout 2020, the musicians resumed touring in 2021. In 2022 they recorded the self-produced Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio; Impulse issued the album in September.