For two decades, guitarist, composer, and vocalist
Jane Getter has been wowing audiences with stellar technique and an ever-evolving palette of sounds melding prog and jazz fusion with savvy metal, hard rock, groove-centric, and soul jazz sounds she developed while serving with organist
Jack McDuff.
Division World is the third studio album from the
Jane Getter Premonition. The band's lineup has solidified around guitarist/vocalist
Getter, guitarist
Alex Skolnick, keyboardist/co-producer
Adam Holzman, drummer
Gene Lake, and veteran bassist
Paul Frazier.
Lo-Fi Resistance's
Randy McStine reprises his role as guest vocalist. (
Division World contains only one instrumental.) Co-produced by
Getter and
Holzman, these carefully sequenced songs contrast musical forms and songwriting architectures for emotional impact.
Getter's singing voice commands attention, illuminating the music, painting details with aural color and texture. While 2021's
Anomalia comfortably dwelled between melodic prog-rock and edgy fusion,
Division World falls more in the camp of artful, edgy, progressive pop.
The title track introduces the album with a guitar vamp that recalls
Adrian Belew-
Bill Bruford-era
King Crimson. It gives way to contrapuntal guitars, minimal syncopated snare, a pulsing bassline, and painterly keyboards.
McStine intones the state of modern life: "The divide is getting wider/The hole is getting deeper/The division's getting greater/The discordance is getting stronger¿"
Holzman's organ solo prompts the guitarists, who respond by soaring.
Getter joins
McStine in a chanted refrain that ultimately becomes militant refusal. In the moody "Dissipate," the rhythm section's dark wave vamp recalls
Porcupine Tree's musical universe until it breaks loose under
Skolnick's angular guitar solo above
Holzman's electronic keyboard swirl. "The Spark," "End the Blame," and "Mixed Up" all channel, to varying degrees, the influence of
Joni Mitchell as the band frames, accents, and highlights
Getter's lyrics and gently soulful vocals in lush prog parlance. "Compass," the instrumental, juxtaposes the band's trademark interplay between guitars and rhythm section; it's fluid, kinetic, thoroughly engaged, and locked on. Prog and pop (à la
Kate Bush) intersect behind
McStine's vocal in "Devolution," an elegant, texturally diverse song about societal cruelty and confusion. Carefully contained in its first half, the guitar players duel in the second half, as power riffs, slamming tom-toms, and spiky keys frame them. "Another Way" juxtaposes edgy post-punk, dark, eerie funk, and prog, while "Layers" offers shifting time signatures in an edgy, guitar-drenched, dubby post-punk frame.
Skolnick's skronky solo contrasts beautifully with
Getter's more lyrical take in the final section. "Rewind Regain" is gracefully baroque, proggish guitar pop about emotional struggle and spiritual evolution.
Holzman's careening synth solo is a highlight.
McStine sings lead on the folk-tinged closer, "Waiting for the Light." He's accompanied by acoustic guitars, flute, oboe, and piano, with bass and drums adding gentle drama and sweeping dynamics. There's plenty of instrumental acumen displayed on
Division World, carried in expertly written songs with intuitive arrangements amid unintrusive production. All told, they deliver an uncommon emotional depth and musical sophistication in spades. ~ Thom Jurek
