'Speaking of Music': Clandestination

Tom Branch is the bandleader of the Clandestinations. (Sir Matt Ruggles)

Tom Branch is a musician from Atlanta and leader of the band Clandestination. He plays acoustic guitar and is joined by Tim Anderson on cello, Teresa Lemaire on flute, and Colin Agnew on percussion.

Branch hopes the music will “take you somewhere,” an aspiration not unrealistic given the expansive, journeying instrumental pieces created by Branch in his quartet.

He approaches composition much like storytelling, explaining, “It’s almost like I’m writing a little soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist.”