Spotlight: Comfort Club

Singer, songwriter, and producer: LA-based artist Comfort Club (real name Colin Tracey) is all of this and more. Born in Holland, Michigan and having grown up in Commerce, on the other side of the state, Tracey moved to California after graduating from Michigan State University, where he got his degree in advertising. This, however, was not what Tracey wanted to succeed in. At the age of 17, he began playing the guitar and realised his real dream was making music. 

Picture by Lauren Nieves

Growing up, Tracey’s biggest inspirations and therefore influences were Jack Johnson, Ray Lamontagne, and, as he states, “the other singer songwriter guys”. More recently, he cited Jeremy Zucker, Alexander 23, and Lauv as his biggest sources of inspiration and the reason why he got into production on top of songwriting. He “shifted into more of a holistic approach” in terms of his music so that he could make and play more than ‘just’ acoustic songs, but states that he “found his way back to slightly more organic music” when he discovered American rock band Pinegrove. Nowadays, he views his style as being a combination of all the different influences and ‘phases’ he has gone through on this journey that’s been going on since around 2017-2018.

He is starting to discover his own sound and becoming more comfortable with it. His growth is very evident from the huge difference between the slower, more acoustic debut single ‘Groceries’ (released in 2019) and his most recent single ‘love (a reason to hate you)’ (released in 2022). Not only is it noticeable how his inspirations have shifted, but also how he has changed and evolved as a musician. Tracey’s greatest assets are both his comforting (pun intended) indie pop sound as well as his lyrics that hit close to home for many of his listeners. On top of that, Tracey is a kind-hearted soul who cares a lot about his art and is busy creating more music that will be even better than everything released so far.  

As Comfort Club, Tracey’s main goal is to perform his music in front of a bigger audience. It is of great importance to him to be able to play his songs and share them with the people in the room. He states that, while making a song itself is fun and special, “once the song is done, there’s nothing he wants to do more than play it live”. For the next year, he really wants to prioritise this aspect of his musical journey. A debut album is in the works at the moment, so it would be amazing that upon its release, his fans would also be able to hear the songs live and be able to scream their lungs out to the relatable words. 

For now, you can find Comfort Club’s music on all streaming platforms – and let’s hope for some information on that debut album soon!