Joan Torres's All Is Fused

It's easy for jazz fusion to come out like a Jackson Pollack painting, potentially inspiring to someone presumably but without so much as a general shape to play off of, the beauty is lost on most. On their third album Of The Musical, Joan Torres's All Is Fused let just the right amount of hard rock elements into their sound to keep listeners hooked on a melody and bobbing their head even if they aren't versed in complex polyrhythms. This is not to say that the album doesn't have it's fair share of 'three days behind the beat' syncopation and rollercoaster runs like any fusion album worth its salt but All is Fused don't seem to be stuck on the pretension that every song must be a constant cacophony. They rock out 1-2-3-4. They sit on a nice groove and let us marinate on it. They create a surrealist painting. Enough conventional artifice to connect to the soul interpreted by the jarring, abstract confusion of the mind.

The San Fransisco based All Is Fused is led by snappy bassist, Joan Torres. By consequence the songwriting is bass-forward yet Torres has a keen sense of when to sit back and let other melodies take over. Lead single 'Invaded' begins with a start-stop pacing. Piano and bass creep as one like a mischievous cartoon duo planning a sneak attack, darting in and out of the gaze of their target. The band ends up settling on a catchy rhythm section groove. Saxophone lays a foundation while guitars flourish. Evolving movements eventually lead to a Mars Volta style latin jazz fusion breakaway with Torres showing off his dizzying dexterity.

On 'Explore' the group again doesn't shy away from opening themselves up with drummer Fernando Garcia laying down a straight forward, open hi-hat stomp over which the players assemble their melodies for the coming track. The instruments swirl like mixing paint on a palette as Garcia ramps things up. The swell breaks with Torres' steadfast bass line left in the aftermath and pianist Emanuel Rivera's initially subtle tinkling growing erratic and chaotic. Eventually, Torres and Rivera come to perfect lock step as the horns insert chords like slowly changing coloured spotlights.

'Ultramarine' further dismantles the frantic jazz disarray, with a hazy psychedelic groove that brings to mind Animals-era Pink Floyd. The progressions are deliberate, guitars slide inexorably up the neck delivering Gilmour-esque heights. 'Constant Stream' further encourages prog comparisons with that whirring, pitch-bending synth that defined the prog acts of the late '70s. 'Stream of Melancholy' takes that 5:30 in the morning free jam and builds it to a monumental blues explosion.

Of The Musical is a brilliant fusion album that uses its prog and hard rock influences to create an album that is as cinematic as it is technically impressive. The band goes far beyond complex musical ideas managing to weave in a true sonic narrative. The album brings to mind 2012's Lingua Franca by supergroup T.R.A.M. which also seamlessly blended these influences to make an album that went far beyond the constraints of current fusion. Joan Torres's All Is Fused have created quite a formidable album.