(2021) Jane Getter Premonition - Anomalia


Review:
When the Jane Getter Premonition issued On, its 2015 studio debut, they revealed a healthy appetite for musical discovery. That set, and its 2017 live counterpart, showcased Getter’s band of musical luminaries exploring intricate connections between jazz, fusion, prog, and metal in refined, dynamic compositions. Anomalia, their second studio outing, was six long years in the making. The core band consists of Getter as composer, co-producer, guitarist, and vocalist; husband Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) on keyboards and co-production; and Testament’s Alex Skolnick on guitar. Getter employs two rhythm sections: former Frank Zappa/Allan Holdsworth drummer Chad Wackerman and fusion and prog bassist Stu Hamm in one; jazz bassist Mark Egan and drummer Gene Lake in the other. The knotty architecture in opener “Kryptone” offers an unmistakable tribute to King Crimson’s “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 2.” Holzman’s keys juxtapose jagged chordal vamps amid passages of pure lyricism. Skolnick and Getter intersect mathy prog and overdriven metal atop the syncopation engine of Hamm and Wackerman. “Lessons Learned” commences with moody, spectral, fingerpicked electric guitar. Holzman’s layered atmospheric keys add harmonic and textural contrast to Getter’s limpid vocal, which emerges from the ether to claim the center. Her signing is lovely, offered without artifice or emphasis, allowing her steely, Zen-like lyrics to speak for themselves: “Accept your limitations/focus on your innovations/trust in your abilities/believe and you will be free.” Razor-wire prog interludes rise above a doomy metal vamp as squalling guitar solos move the track off center and then forward in a lurch. “Dissembler” is a strident indictment of a one-time political leader that features Egan and Lake with guest Vernon Reid shredding on a third guitar. Further, Randy McStine (of Lo-Fi Resistance) reveals his fine vocal chops in a duet with Getter; its low-down, funky, blues- metal groove is accented by Holzman’s meaty synth vamps that wed guitars to the rhythm section. “Still Here” commences as a ballad, but Lake’s jazzy drumming offers a left turn that opens the frame for instrumental interplay. Getter’s arpeggiated chords weave a mysterious backdrop which she and Skolnick populate with punchy, alternating solos appended by a boisterous Holzman organ break that would not have been out of place on a Tony Williams Lifetime record. “Answers” features Getter’s acoustic guitar framing Chanda Rule’s soulful vocals as Holzman’s piano fills out the harmony, and the rhythm section bumps gently underneath. “Queen of Spies” is a killer instrumental played by a quartet with Holzman, Hamm, and Wackerman. Getter’s fiery guitar playing leads the band into a maelstrom of manic prog, meaty fusion, and angular, jagged metal. Getter closes Anomalia with “Safe House,” a solo acoustic instrumental that expresses itself through jazz, blues, and nuevo flamenco. The Jane Getter Premonition displays musical uniqueness in spades here. No other group employs electric jazz, progressive rock, and metal to deliver a poignant, passionate, singer-songwriter record. Anomalia is at once lyrically unsettling, musically unusual, and compulsively listenable.





Tracklist:
01 - Kryptone
02 - Lessons Learned
03 - Dissembler
04 - Alien Refugee
05 - Still Here
06 - Answers
07 - Queen of Spies
08 - Disappear
09 - Safe House


Media Report:
Genre: prog-rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits