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Girls Are Rad: Cober

Sheila Bommakanti of Cober is a one-woman wonder with a double-necked guitar.

Creating and self-releasing four albums worth of material—two of which with nothing more than a double-necked guitar and two Marshall half-stacks—is impressive enough, but Sheila Bommakanti does it all herself under the moniker Cober.

In the winter of 2000, Bommakanti created Cober and released its debut album, Crashpilot. The band was originally based in Seattle and more fleshed out instrumentally, with Bommakanti writing and recording using a full-band approach, but playing all the pieces (minus drums) herself. During shows, a live band would back her up. A second album, The Breaker, followed in 2002. Both albums are full of grungy experimental rock, and though calling them “upbeat” would be the biggest lie of the century, they are considerably more buoyant than the sound that Bommakanti eventually graduated to. That sound appeared in 2006, when Cober became solely hers and gained more depth with the release of Eulogy.  Eulogy is profoundly slower moving than Cober’s first two albums and absolutely dripping with reverb and lingering vocals. As it was released, Bommakanti moved from Seattle to Boston, and though she returned to Seattle several months later, she had a new album to show for it: Western Cutter.

Bommakanti has said that, "Not everything people experience is easily communicated in words, but there is always a feeling that is present," and that feeling appears to be omnipresent on Western Cutter. The album moves at a calculated, almost infuriating pace, forcing you to either focus intently on her words, or just allow her voice to act as an instrument and wash over the room. What makes her approach interesting is that it sounds more electronically layered than one instrument typically achieves. Throughout Cober’s history, Bommakanti has relied on delayed guitar loops that incite comparisons to Portishead. But on Western Cutter, but there’s a more stripped-down, cut-you-with-a-knife kind of emotion to her lyrics which, paired with a methodical rhythm, brings her a little closer to the vocals of Exile in Guyville-era Liz Phair.

Bommakanti continues to tour and record herself as Cober, saying, “I’ve come to realize that playing live the way I record more accurately reflects what Cober is, and the audience gets a more intimate show.” Stating that music has always kept her grounded, she also acknowledges “The listener’s connection to the music will always be important to me for that reason.”

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