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. ~ Thom Jurek