Customer Reviews

Love & Affliction

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"Love and Affliction" is the follow-up to last year's phenomenal self-titled debut for Consonant -- Clint Conley (Mission of Burma), Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine), Matt Kadane (The New Year, Bedhead), and Winston Braman (Fuzzy). Although this album feels like a more well-rounded group effort than the first one, "Love and Affliction" just doesn't have the energy that "Consonant" had, and the band never seems just to rock out. The album is still good, though -- tracks like "Mysteries of the Holiday Camp" and "Are You Done?" are stellar and capture the band's energy and enthusiasm.

Overall recommendation: If you liked "Consonant", you'll definitely enjoy parts of this album. If you're just starting to find out about the band, then their self-titled debut is probably a better place to start out.

Rockers and a poet -- what's not to love? In Consonant's sophomore album, "Love & Affliction," there's quite a bit. While it's not actually bad, the album lacks energy and sizzle that would make it worthwhile. The best description is lackluster.

It springs off with the steady "Little Murders" ("You stay, I'll go/I'll show it wasn't me"), and spirals into the bouncy rocker "Dumb Joy," the unexciting "Lost Together," the fun and catchy "Mysteries of the Summer Camp," the well-orchestrated but rather dull "Hell-Blonde," the outright boring "She's Driving Fast," the uneven "Cry," and sputtering rock "Blue Story"

One of the problems with "Love & Affliction is the lack of hooks. few of the songs snagged me and drew me in, with some exceptions like "Mysteries of the Summer Camp." The lyrics are fairly ordinary, having some high points but also some very bland I-was-half-asleep-when-I-wrote-this wording.

The instrumentation is well-done, but a bit monotonous; I had trouble remembering afterwards which songs were which. And the vocals, not strong to start with, are slightly scratchy at times, as if the lead vocalist was recovering from a sore throat and was unsure of himself.

Fans of the self-titled "Consonant" may find that the band's second album suffers from the feared sophomore slump. Like many a college band (which this album sounds like it was produced by, rather than experienced rockers), there's promise in this album, but no more than promise.

They use interesting chord changes, but the instrumentation is similar on every song, which leads to a monotonous effect. They sound like the typical college band -- earnest but not fully formed.

Oh come on guys, there's much worse music out there this year...sure it isn't as good as the debut, but the two shouldn't even be compared. It's a totally different approach from the last album, the songs for the most part are much slower, longer, and more well-developed. More "mature", as much as I hate to throw a word like that around. Sure, I was bored & dissapointed the first time I listened to it, as I hold a pretty high standard for such a consistent songwriter as Clint Conley, but the more I listen to it repeatedly, the better it sounds...the more intricate little layered details I'm noticing, and the more sense this particular direction the band has chosen to take makes. Besides, it'd have turned out much more boring if the album was just a blatant re-hash of the formula from the first. That was a collection of simple, catchy & creatively-written pop tunes; this one's damn near impossible to pin down. Sort of a real mellow indie/postrock/shoegazer-esque vibe going down. Definitely sounds unique, though. That alone makes it worth a listen. And don't expect everything to rock and/or force a hook to get stuck in your head all the time. There's more to music than energy & simple catchiness.

Pounding, shrill, and markedly lacking in subtlety or grace, this tinny guitar band seems to be shooting for a Superchunk-ish abandon, but don't quite pull it off. (And this is the best a bunch of vets from Mission of Burma, Codiene, Bedhead and numerous other indie bands can come up with?) Sorry, guys! Nothing here to hold my attention...