Photocomfort – Harrowingly Irresistible
Photocomfort is the platform for Boston-based artist Justine Bowe’s careful, expansive pop.
Photocomfort is the distillation of the exacting songwriting, production and performance craftsmanship she lends to other recording projects like Hex Girlfriend, Anjimile, and Cliff Notez.
She borrows as much from 90s radio heroes like Alanis Morissette and Dido as from Joanna Newsom, Bjork, or Thom Yorke. Huge vocal hooks soar over nimble arrangements, presenting the self-doubt and isolation born from the pursuit of “the dream” of being an artist as harrowing, irresistible and irresistibly catchy.
Stepping away from moody and humorous self-reflections, her latest album, Patron Saint, is a collection of platonic love songs. With pedal steel lending color to electronic and acoustic elements, live performance, and rich atmosphere, each of Patron Saint’s songs feature a crystal-clear portrait of a dear friend, many of whom feature her in their own musical projects and whose relationships and collaboration you can track through their published music. The songs, which could easily be at home in both jazz songbooks and folk clubs, deliver all the promise, care, and color true platonic love deserves.
For “Roll,” the lead single off Patron Saint, Justine began with a vintage synthesizer and a sample of shouts and laughter from her best friend, Anjimile. “I asked them to send me something like that scream noise in ‘Jump Around’ so that I could make a beat with it. They shouted, “HEY!!!” and their partner responded by giggling in the background—I kept it all in. That’s how these songs all started—some real conversation, some stupid bit with a friend, lots of room tone, conversations, laughter…everything stuck.”
Keeping true to her process, Justine says she previously took a break from releasing music “because writing songs didn’t feel genuine. I didn’t feel like anything was worth writing, let alone releasing—until the idea of writing these love songs for friends presented itself. I could write about my friends forever.”
Justine describes the song’s accompanying music video as a “three minute thriller” that was filmed entirely in her apartment, “which is great because I didn’t have to leave the house, which is something I hate doing.”
