{"id":21980,"date":"2021-11-14T05:30:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T10:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=21980"},"modified":"2021-11-16T07:33:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T12:33:14","slug":"album-review-trifecta-fragments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/14\/album-review-trifecta-fragments\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Trifecta — Fragments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Here\u2019s an easy trivia question for you: What do Craig Blundell, Adam Holzman<\/del> asnd Nick Beggs have in common?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really a trick question, because the judges will allow any number of possible answers. You might have replied that (a) all three men are superb musicians playing progressive rock, or (b) all three are members of Steven Wilson\u2019s band (which overlaps nearly with the first answer). But now there\u2019s another answer: collectively, they make up a new trio called Trifecta.<\/p>\n

Fragments<\/i> is their new album, and while it\u2019s rooted in prog, the music has at least (if not more) to do with jazz fusion. The disc features fifteen tracks, and – astoundingly for music in this category \u2013 only one cut exceeds the four-minute mark.<\/p>\n

The music is knotty, mostly instrumental stuff, with hints of everything from Allan Holdsworth to Brand X. It\u2019s as ambitious and exploratory as music can be while still maintain any kind of accessibility. And while the tracks are instrumental, the titles get across the notion that \u2013 their stern album cover countenances aside \u2013 this trio is a playful, wacky bunch. How else to explain titles like \u201cThe Enigma of Mr Fripp,\u201d \u201cNightmare in Shining Armor\u201d and \u201cClean Up on Aisle Five\u201d?<\/p>\n

The titles aren\u2019t random silliness; they do provide clues as to where a particular number might go. \u201cThe Mute Gospel\u201d does indeed have a gospel vibe, though it\u2019s more likely to get you thinking about Geirge Duke and Fran Zappa doing \u201cUncle Remus\u201d than any churchified, sanctified songs of praise. \u201cSally Doo Dally\u201d comes as close to pop as anything on the set, and it\u2019s closer than you might expect.<\/p>\n

And the aforementioned track referencing the King King Crimson man does in fact sounds a lit like Fripp, though it executes the hairpin turns on keyboards more than guitar. In fact guitars aren\u2019t the primary instruments on Fragments. Blundell handles percussion and electronics; Beggs plays basses, Chapman Stick, keys and guitars; Holzman is on key and (as the notes tell us) \u201cLow Rent Hairdo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPavlov\u2019s Dog Killed Schrodinger\u2019s Cat\u201d is low-key weirdness, with a rare Beggs vocal tun. \u201cDry Martini\u201d is reminiscent of Another Green World<\/i>-era Eno. \u201cLie 2 Me and Take My Money\u201d is out-there fusion, with sounds that suggest a violin being, um, violated. Great stuff. And \u201cHold it Like That\u201d suggests that Trifecta could have al ucrative career in movie theme and\/or soundtrack work, should they choose.<\/p>\n

These three are busy all the time, so while the imminent return of Porcupine Tree may mean that their work with Wilson is on hold for a bit, what Holzman, Beggs and Blundell have brought forth with Trifecta is a tasty treat for right here, right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s an easy trivia question for you: What do Craig Blundell, Adam Holzman asnd Nick Beggs have in common? It\u2019s really a trick question, because the judges will allow any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,40,42,49,56,65],"tags":[4694,4693,4692,4695],"class_list":["post-21980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fusion","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-prog","category-review","tag-adam-holzman","tag-craig-blundell","tag-nick-beggs","tag-trifecta","cat-32-id","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-56-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21995,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980\/revisions\/21995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}