Consonant – Love and Affliction

Consonant is Clint Conley’s first new music in close to 20 years. As bassist and co-songwriter for the legendary post-punk Boston band Mission of Burma (who broke up in 1983), Conley wrote some of their best-known songs including, “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” and “Academy Fight Song.” After remaining on the musical sidelines developing a career as a television producer, in 2002 Conley assembled a band which includes Chris Brokaw (Come, Evan Dando), Matt Kadane (Bedhead), and Winston Braman (Fuzzy) and released Consonant’s self-titled debut record. The band began work on new material for their second album almost immediately after finishing the first. The result is Love and Affliction, a cerebral, emotional, and somewhat darker offering than their debut. Featuring a heavier guitar attack and a musically tighter group, it reveals a band finding its own voice.
The songs are a collaboration between Conley, who handles the music, and poet Holly Anderson (whose writing formed the lyrical basis to the Mission of Burma song “Mica”), who writes the lyrics. The resulting music has a sound that preserves those raw, muscular Burma guitars but the angles have been softened into melodic, cerebral rock songs.
Highlights include the leadoff track, “Little Murders,” which could possibly be the best song that Matthew Sweet never wrote and contains a great hook that should be all over the radio. Also, the sparse vocal and guitar-only, “She’s Driving Fast” is reminiscent of Michael Penn, and the final track “Blue Story,” which starts quietly in the pop vein and builds to end in a brief noise jam.
Its good to have Conley out of retirement. His voice sounds great, and his guitar playing is top notch. The Conley/Anderson collaboration is one that really works well. Hopefully they keep the songs coming.