Consonant

clockwise from top left:

Clint Conley: Guitar, Vocals
Matt Kadane: Drums
Winston Bramen: Bass
Chris Brokaw: Guitar


Hometown: Boston, Mass

By the time Consonant released their first album in 2002, the four members already had lengthy resumes from playing in Boston-based bands over the last 20+ years. Band leader Conley had achieved cult stardom playing bass for indie rock legends Mission Of Burma in the early '80s, but had essentially given up music when Burma split in 1983. Although not as prolific a writer as Burma guitarist Roger Miller, I always liked Conley's songs best- "Peking Spring", "Academy Fight Song", "That's When I Reach For My Revolver", etc. I was understandably stoked to hear that Conley was forming a band of his own with former Come guitarist Chris Brokaw (another favorite of mine- he'll appear here later both solo and with Come).

2002's "Consonant" is a little quieter and more well-mannered than one would expect from someone with Conley's past (the band name refers to the opposite of "dissonant"), but the material is far from sedate. The album bases itself around edgy melodies and fluid guitar playing- the overall effect being a kind of off-kilter guitar pop. Lyrically, Conley enlists the help of poet Holly Anderson (his co-writer for one of my favorite Burma songs, "Mica")- actually setting several of her poems to music. It isn't easy to create melodies for material that was never meant to be sung, although Conley proves adept at making the odd lyrical meters work.

"Love And Affliction" came out the following year and showed a more sure-footed band. The first album had been recorded before Consonant had ever played live, but by now they had gelled into a more cohesive unit. Musically the album is in the same vein as before, but the playing is more aggressive and the overall sound is denser and less tentative.

All four band members have multiple other projects (and Conley keeps his day job as a video producer for public TV), and Consonant seems to have been on the back burner since the release of "Love And Affliction" in 2003. I hope it's a project Conley returns to, because this is no side project ego trip- Consonant is a unique, fully realized band. It also provides an interesting counterpoint to his work with Burma (who have reformed and issued two excellent albums of new material since 2004).


Consonant band website

That Boston Life.mp3
From "Consonant", 2002
Click here to buy "Consonant" from Amazon

Are You Done-.mp3
From "Love & Affliction", 2003
Click here to buy "Love And Afflcition" from Amazon