SONG PREMIERE: Con Brio Go Big with Brassy Funk Anthem “Candlelight Lover”

Photo credit: Charla Harvey

The first thing you notice about a Con Brio show is the crowd. Smiling faces aren’t buried in their phones, but are rapt to the stage. Before a recent club show, a fan base that spans generations mingles and reconnects after a long pandemic layoff. Friends and acquaintances share stories of past shows and festivals and settle on a common refrain: “We’re all lucky to be here.”

The band comes out fiery, “Like a party punk version of Sly & The Family Stone” [Consequence of Sound]. Horns, guitar, keys, bass and drums get the crowd moving and set the stage for vocalist Sarah Clarke’s entrance. With a voice that’s equal parts Etta James-rich and Janis Joplin-raw, Clarke’s vocal ties the musical room together. Nimble and assured, the band weaves through a setlist that mixes rockers, dance jams and soul (power)-ballads. The arrangements are variably tight and expansive, often breaking loose from verse-chorus form to spotlight the virtuosity of the band and its individual players.

In March of 2020, the band was en route to Colorado to start a 12-show tour when the reality of the pandemic hit home and the music industry shut down. Con Brio was at a crossroads: where many groups might implode or fade away, the band seized the moment as an opportunity, bringing on Clarke on vocals and new utility-player AJ McKinley on guitar, keys and backing vocals. And at a time when most studios and rehearsal rooms were sitting empty, Con Brio moved into and renovated a downtrodden Oakland rehearsal space into a modern recording studio where they could start a new era producing and recording their own music.

Today Glide is excited to premiere “Candlelight Lover,” one of the standout tracks off the band’s upcoming EP Seasons. The deeply funky track finds Sarah Clarke laying down slinky and sultry vocals that explode into a full-on group anthem that feels like hyper-charged electro R&B. The massive beat and big wave of horns adds a sense of urgency to this danceable ode to connecting with others after being isolated for so long. In true Con Brio fashion, it culminates in a vicious guitar solo that Clarke complements with her soulful vocals.

Frontwoman Sarah Clarke describes the inspiration behind the song:

“In working verses for this song, I was hyper focused on the way the world felt as it was opening back up. We were stepping out of a space that was pretty isolating for all of us and starting to recognize the world as a place where we could be social again, foster relationships and connections.

The opening line ‘are these my inhibitions in the corner, crumped on the floor? They might stay there forever cuz I just don’t want them anymore’ is acknowledging our desire to connect with one another in an emotional and physical sense after being on our own islands for so long.”

LISTEN:

Con Brio’s “Candlelight Love” is out now on all digital/streaming platforms. It is the second single from their forthcoming EP Seasons which drops digitally September 16th, with a vinyl release to follow.

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