Colder, Milder

Brokeback return with their first album in a decade, Colder, Milder, refining the Midwestern post-surf-rock sound that they pioneered at the turn of the century through simplicity and restraint, foregrounding melody and harmony. Initially a solo project of bassist/guitarist Douglas McCombs, Brokeback now includes guitarist James Elkington, bassist Peter Croke, and drummer Arief Sless-Kitain. Together, the quartet use rock instrumentation to explore pure minimal melodic lines and highlight the interplay between the four players. In these complex times, this music is a welcome escape.

The members make equal contributions to shape the pieces that are largely begun by McCombs or Elkington. A song’s origin can be as simple  as a three-note figure in a verse, a figure on a Bass VI, a Riff, a simple melody – and from these humble beginnings, through collaborative workshopping, a song is born. Frequent inspirations are the things of  everyday life, simple pleasures. “Pigeon Dreamt A Man” is such a song. “For 15 or 16 years, my dog Pigeon laid right next to me for every piece of music that I wrote,” shares McCombs, “Some of them I thought of as lullabies for her. This one asks the question – if she could imagine her ideal person, would it be me?”

The album is not without adornment. For the first time, it incorporates strings written and arranged by James Elkington and performed by Lia Kohl (cello) and Macie Stewart (viola). There are also vocals from Amalea Tchilds, a longtime friend and frequent collaborator whose delicate vocal timbre floats along the melodies. Recorded by John McEntire in Electrical Audio and Soma EMS, the album features artwork by Rick Froberg.

Brokeback is unbound by deadlines, held by abiding friendships and driven by the joy of exploration. Colder, Milder’s entwined patterns are bittersweet in their melodic content, while embracing the listener in the delicate tendrils of the form, and ode to personal connection by four highly skilled musicians.