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Hometown: Chicago, IL
Label: Loose Tooth Records
Management: Steve Hutton
Website: www.brightonma.net
Sounds Like: Wilco, Bruce Springsteen, The Walkmen
Genre: Rock
Brighton MA is a product of a wide range of modern music. Their sound is lyrically driven with no small debt to indie, folk, noise pop, and the classic alternative.
Matt Kerstein and drummer Sam Koentopp began playing together in Scotland Yard Gospel Choir just out of college. They soon became indie press darlings on the strength of extensive college radio play and tours with Fiest, Spoon, and Arcade Fire. In 2006, they left SYGC and started Brighton MA with arranger/guitarist Jim Tuerk in order to more fully realize their musical ambitions. The addition of guitarist Joe Darnaby and bassist Jon Ozaksut have helped drive the band towards an urgent sound filled with intricately layered guitars, a rattling heaviness, and driving simplicity.
Their songs have been licensed by TV shows like Gossip Girl, Community, Castle, Ghost Whisperer, One Tree Hill, etc. In addition, their song "Good Kind of Crazy" was licensed by Jack Daniels for an international television and web campaign scheduled to air through 2012. In early 2012, they released the 7-song Billboard Sun EP recorded with the help of Archer Prewitt from The Sea & Cake. For their follow-up, the band has recorded their sophomore full-length album—titled Touch—with producer Brian Deck [Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse] at Engine Studios in Chicago.
Although based in Chicago the band is named for the Boston neighborhood where singer Matt Kerstein was born.
"Brighton, MA came across as the kind of band too confident in their music for any kind of gimmick, a little too mature for the hipster bandwagon, very comfortable and very sincere."
Sasha Geffen - Performer Magazine
"When I say Brighton, MA's debut EP sounds ambitious, I don't mean they're "pushing their boundaries" or "developing their sound." I mean it seems like they're fixing to go pro."
Miles Raymer - Chicago Reader
"Every once in a great while you?ll hear a new band that, in some way or another, reaffirms your love of music, your adoration for history and your admiration for artists who find splendor in the simplest of notes, phrases or progressions. Brighton, MA does just that."
Tom Lynch - New City Chicago
"The arrangements are useful to vary the sound of Kerstein's simple, samey melodies and add flavor to his husky, world-weary voice, but they do not interfere with an appreciation of his wordy, poetic lyrics." -Four Stars
All Music Guide
"For a group that's been around for only two years, Brighton, MA has created something surprisingly intricate with Amateur Lovers. This is not merely a great set of songs; this is a meticulously built album with each track functioning within the greater whole."
David Feltman - Skope Magazine
"What feels most natural and familiar about this album, besides the lovely guitars and plaintive vocals, is a restless spirit that drives their ever-evolving vision of modern rock and roll to the edge."
Jenna Glass - Amplifier Magazine
"Pouring in heart and soul whether it be drawn in from influences of twangy alt country fizz or bar room soul or just plain power pop indie rock, each song pours out a heavy dose of sincerity and pride."
ZapTown
"the charm of Kerstein's Dylan-as-an-Irish-lad delivery and melodies [rise] in shining arcs over writerly but never obtuse lyrics."
Riverfront Times
