Thomas Comerford’s "Sun Glasses" turns grief into a gentle reflection”

 

Thomas Comerford's “Sunglasses” is a quietly gripping meditation on loss, memory and the inexplicable comfort we can sometimes derive from the faintest of mementos left by someone we have loved. In the new song, Comerford takes something small, a pair of sunglasses, blows it up into a powerful metaphor and invites us to see through grief’s looking glass along with him. Part intimate and part universal, the song explores the delicate dance of sadness and balm that accompanies remembering someone who has left.

Tapping a rich well of musical inspiration that runs from the ‘70s AOR hits of his AM radio youth through the powerful surges of underground and indie rock rediscovered in early adulthood, Comerford’s new track is as much an homage to personal memory as it is to collective sound. His lyrics play out like a conversation with an old friend, gently probing at the inexpressible feelings that come with loss before anchoring them in some concrete yet almost filmic imagery.

“Sunglasses” allows a moment of pain to become an act of reflection, almost meditation. The sunglasses are suddenly a lens not only to see the world through, they are also adding tint to the emotional horizon following someone’s absence. Comerford’s genius is to transmute that private moment of mourning into a shared one, because out there among the dead are implications not so much for mere artistic continuity as for life itself. On “Sun Glasses”, Thomas Comerford again proves that his songwriting can parse the most personal of experiences and render them universally resonant, giving listeners a gently unforgettable passage through memory, loss, and, in the end, understanding.