Sentinel Events releases new LP ‘Comorbidites’

Coming out of Orlando in Florida, Sentinel Events is a project that presents both engaging rock sound and intriguing concept. Founded by singer-songwriter Garrett Janks, the band filters art rock through a satirical lens, pairing astute observation with a fascination with the systems that shape everyday life. Alongside Garrett on vocals and guitar, the project brings together the talents of Zac Raya on production and various instruments, Doug Charles on drums and percussion and John Paul Foronda handling piano and synths.

Together, they’ve built something that exists just slightly outside the mainstream, leaning into a lo-fi aesthetic while keeping their songwriting sharp, thoughtful and subtly confrontational. Their name, borrowed from a medical term used to describe the worst possible outcomes in healthcare, sets the framework for their unique creative vision; this is a band that looks directly at the structures around them, particularly the world of medicine and healthcare and refracts it through music that’s as sardonic as it is thoughtful.

That balance between concept and execution has become central to their identity, resulting in a sound influenced by the likes of Placebo, Bright Eyes, Pixies, Radiohead and The Doors, while offering something entirely new. Their official introduction came in 2023 with the debut album Poor Historian, a record that quickly put them on the map of must watch artists with a compelling output. By July 2024, they’d already taken a more ambitious leap forward with their sophomore album Trendelenburg Dreams. As a concept record, it ventured further into themes of healthcare, hospitalisation and vivid dreaming, blending the clinical with the surreal in a way that felt at once unsettling and endearingly human.

Now, with their third full-length release titled Comorbidites, Sentinel Events continue to build on their sound with another engrossing record. The album’s title, referencing the simultaneous presence of multiple medical conditions, acts as both a thematic anchor and a metaphor for the layered nature of the project itself, offering an album that revels in overlap, contradiction and the friction between ideas.

Comorbidites also marks a significant expansion in collaboration, featuring contributions from artists including Conflicting Motive, Foxes & Poems, Morrison, Elay VanBoer, Louvenia, Margo Maybach, Voidscan and Hesitant Waitress. Set up by the whacky, carnival-esque intro piece “Comorbidities, The Game!,” the album starts with bouncy rhythms, colourful instrumentation and zany vocal samples carrying barbed words.

“Dinosaur Juice,” featuring Morrison then arrives with the twang of hazy guitar notes before slipping into an indie rock scene where smooth vocal leads drift above the lightly charging flow of intricate guitar layers and pattering drums. On “Bad Radiation,” the band links up with Conflicting Motive and Foxes & Poems to cast a moody rock soundscape that flickers between melancholic, stretched melodies and whispered lines as the arrangement snakes towards a a gripping shift of chugging guitars and theatrical vocal performance.

Tracks like “Garden of the Gods” with Elay VanBoer lean into an emo-tinged pop punk sphere where gently energising guitars, delicate piano and delicate drums underpin an emotive vocal duet. “Florence Nightingale” drifts into focus with a scene setting vocal sample before jumping into a lively soundscape of bouncy drums and subtly angsty vocals, creating a brooding rock outing. Margo Maybach joins the band on “Sadie Hawkins,” a thrilling jam that deftly balances memorable melodic writing with gritty guitars and punk-inflected attitude.

Offering a slight detour, Voidscan’s remix of “Cold Planet” then delivers a more electronic-focused moment where punching beats and bright synth elements collide beneath Garrett’s expressive voice. Closing the record with “White Coat Syndrome,” featuring Hesitant Waitress, the band serves up a superb display of sweeping vocal layers, graceful piano work and anthemic aesthetic to deliver an epic finale to their stellar third album.

Listen to Comorbidites below