Con Brio - Scream At It (2023)

Musicologist will tell us that “con brio” is a musical direction, meaning “with spirit” or “with vigour”; It’s also the name of Bay Area seven-piece band. This CON BRIO is known in and around San Fransico for their explosive cocktail of soul, rock ‘n’ roll, rock, pop and old school R&B and if that music mix floats your boat you may want to investigate their new album, ‘Scream At It’.

The LP, the band’s fourth, is an 8 tracker and maybe the music it delivers is a touch too rocky and elsewhere too electro to trouble soul collectors, though the album’s closing cut, ‘Wish I Could Tell You’ channels a sound that is mid-way between dear Amy Winehouse and Southern soul but that vibe is eventually ripped apart by a frantic rock guitar solo. The album’s not for the faint hearted but the band do play with “with spirit” and “with vigour".

Once hailed in some quarters as the most powerful new live band in 2015, the Bay Area’s Con Brio return with their third album, Scream At It, following the success of 2017’s Paradise and 2018’s Explorer. The time gap is explained by the departure of vocalist Ziek McCarter and keyboardist Patrick Glynn. In their place in the revised seven-piece unit are multi-instrumentalist AJ McKinley and, for now, vocalists who McKinley recruited – Portland’s Sarah Clarke (Portugal the Man, Dirty Revival, The Motet), the Bay Area’s Viveca Hawkins (The Killers, Monophonics) and the Bay Area’s Rainbow Girls.

For reference points, think Tower of Power, Alabama Shakes, and The Mastersounds, among others. Con Brio delivers eight tracks of in-your-face unrelenting soul. You may have already heard the lead single, “Traunch” which features vocalist Clarke, holding little back against a backdrop of swirling keyboards, crashing cymbals, emphatic beats, and yes, wailing screams and whooshing pedal-assisted electronics.

With such an impactful command for a studio cut, one can only imagine the slaying effect of this track in live performance. Earlier this past summer the band released “Whenever You Call” which features vocalist Hawkins in a mid-tempo swaying ‘80s’like R&B groove. The tune is a co-write with Con Brio and Michael Deni (aka Geographer). The layered synths and crisp beats soon blend with punchy horns as Hawkins purrs that she’s ready to welcome her ‘catch’ at any time as Stephens bolsters it with his chorus riffs on his saxophone.

The album begins with “What’s the Lady Thinking” which begins with keyboards that sound like an annoying alarm clock. Soon, however, a chugging, dense rhythm ensues as Clarke’s wailing vocal soars over the steady locomotive drive, alive with swirling keys, layered vocals, and blaring horns. “Fancy Shoes” has a syncopated funky beat with punchy horns, Bay Area style. Again, Clarke summons all to the dance floor as guitarist Andrews uses his pedals effectively amidst the enveloping horns. A determined Clarke is a mighty force of nature on the rousing “Close the Gap” which fuses in a bit of pop, another major ingredient in the Con Brio sound, with this one as conducive as any for screaming and shouting.

“Turn,” is a horn-slathered tune featuring Hawkins, who is equally as spirited as Clarke, but slightly more R&B oriented as opposed to glass shattering, but only by a smidge. Perhaps her vocal style is best exemplified in the closer, “Wish I Could Tell You,” which begins as a mid-tempo ballad and is the only candidate of the eight that qualifies as a “breather.” Even so, Con Brio doesn’t remain in that mode for long, building it into another powerful burner, stoked by Andrews’ spiraling guitar solo that leads to an explosive climax. This is a standout track that shows that the band can vary their tempos and sonics. A bit more of that throughout the eight tracks would only be to their benefit.

“Searching for a New Work” is pure vintage R&B as delivered by the Rainbow Girls, a three-piece singing unit comprised of Erin Chapin, Caitlin Gowdey, and Vanessa Wilbourn. It’s the album’s longest track at over six and half minutes and is primarily an instrumental rave-up that allows the band to stretch out, digging deep for their signature driving grooves, punctuated by the horns.

Retro, vintage, throwback – whatever term you want to apply.. it works.