Coheed and Cambria is a band that has spawned many side projects. The most recent is Chonny and Clyde, made up of Coheed frontman Claudio Sanchez and his wife Chondra Echert.
The pair weren’t yet ready to unveil the music they’ve been working on (first teased about two months ago), but found their hands recently forced. Via a facebook post, Sanchez and Echert said:
“In light of the devastation caused by Hurricane Marie in Puerto Rico and subsequent delayed governmental response, we decided that these songs we’d written to originally include on a Chonny & Clyde album would be better served in the here and now to help our brothers and sisters in PR to rebuild and Heal.”
The impromptu EP, Celesti, is currently available on BandCamp. The three songs are pay-want-you-want (with a $5 minimum), and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Unidos por Puerto Rico, an organization dedicated to providing aid to victims of hurricanes Irma and Maria.
As for the songs themselves they’re a gorgeous, soft, guitar-driven folk. They’re more reminiscent of the folkier, less electronically-heavy The Prize Fighter Inferno tunes (the original Coheed and Cambria side project), than anything by Coheed.
“A – OK” is warm and tender, with a bit of a lullaby feeling in the guitar melody and a slight reverb on the chorus that lends an otherworldly touch. “Supernova” has an underlying sense of urgency when compared to “A – OK”, though it relies almost exclusively on a guitar and their two voices (with a bit of atmospheric electronics thrown in during the outro). “I, the Hurricane” has the most traditional, for lack of a better work, folk feeling of the set. Guitar, harmonica, tambourine. Gorgeous percussion kicks in about a third of the way in and changes the whole feeling.
With their earlier-than-planned release of Celesti, Chonny and Clyde join a growing list of musicians stepping up to raise funds to help the 3.5 million American citizens currently suffering in Puerto Rico. Others include Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose star-studded tune is expected out tomorrow; Beyoncé; Marc Anthony; and many more.
