Husband-and-wife duo Joe Carlough and Katie Haegele, otherwise known as the “Consonant Collective,” have been using their knowledge of art and music to connect with people in the local community. On July 14, they hosted “Vinyl Press with the Consonant Collective” at the Chestnut Hill Library, allowing attendees to create their own album covers and watch the process of records being made.

With more than 20 participants, the event invited people with many different creative interests to bring a five-minute audio clip of their choosing, whether it be music or other audio, and watch it turn into a fully functional vinyl record. Carlough and Haegele prepared tables full of arts and crafts supplies so the attendees could design their album covers while waiting for their turn to create their records.

“It’s fun to see people’s excitement,” Haegele said. “It’s a big part of our work life these days, doing these public events, and we really enjoy it.”

The couple has been hosting this event for the last year and half and have led close to 30. They say they love partnering with local libraries to make their events easily accessible.

While most attendees choose a few of their favorite songs for a compilation for themselves or a loved one, some people take a more sentimental route.

“People bring things other than music that are really dear to them like voice recordings of somebody,” Haegele said. “People have also done their wedding vows because you’ve got this one record, which is a little bit unusual, but very unique.”

The Consonant Collective does much more than just creating vinyl records. Carlough and Haegele met while they were creating zines, and their friendship initially sparked through collaborating on one. They both also write different types of literary pieces, from novels to poetry.

With help and support from their more than 15 collaborators, the Consonant Collective has no shortage of long-lasting connections that they’ve made over the years.

“Every person you bring into a project has a new idea for it,” Carlough said. “... Someone might even just make a small, offhand comment that they aren’t taking seriously, but then it ends up having a really big impact on a project.”

While having such a close personal and professional relationship with each other has proven successful, they say that hosting community events offers a nice environment to interact with more creative minds as opposed to only bouncing ideas off each other.

“We’ve been doing stuff together for close to 20 years,” Carlough said. “...We spend every minute together already and [these events] are just an extension of that.”

Consonant Collective is continuing to share knowledge through community gatherings and events, and hopes to do so for many years to come.

“Some people [create] something really personal to them,” Haegele said. “We love to hear their stories and connect on that level.”