Originally released in 1996, Come’s third album Near Life Experience was the sound of a band heading into new territory, refining their dense mix of hypnotic noise-rock, blues and rock’n’roll song-writing. Lovingly remastered, this new version features three bonus tracks ‘Prize’, ‘Strike’, ‘Hurricane II’ stemming from the same era.
After Come’s seminal 1994 release ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, bassist Sean O’Brien and drummer Arthur Johnson left the band to pursue other careers. Remaining members Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zedek recorded Near Life Experience with two different rhythm sections: one half of the album was recorded with drummer Mac McNeilly of the Jesus Lizard and Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol, the other half recorded…
…with Kevin Coultas and Tara Jane O’Neil of Rodan and The Sonora Pine. Other contributors to the album included Edward Yazijian from Kustomized and Jeff Goddard from Karate, both rock bands hailing from Boston, MA.
The title of the album resulted from “a slip of the tongue, as Zedek states, she “was telling someone [she had] had a ‘near life experience,’ but meant to say near death experience. Chris [Brokaw] was cracking up at the imagery of that. Thus, the phrase was chosen as the album’s title.
…Zedek and Brokaw might have compensated the loss of band members by recruiting new blood but the reward was huge, ‘Near Life Experience’ is Come’s most cinematic, diverse and accessible album.