Division World

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 bands 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 Resistances 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. Getters singing voice commands attention, illuminating the music, painting details with aural color and texture. While 2021s 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 divisions getting greater/The discordance is getting stronger…" Holzmans 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 sections dark wave vamp recalls Porcupine Trees musical universe until it breaks loose under Skolnicks angular guitar solo above Holzmans 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 Getters lyrics and gently soulful vocals in lush prog parlance. "Compass," the instrumental, juxtaposes the bands trademark interplay between guitars and rhythm section; its fluid, kinetic, thoroughly engaged, and locked on. Prog and pop (a la Kate Bush) intersect behind McStines 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. Skolnicks skronky solo contrasts beautifully with Getters more lyrical take in the final section. "Rewind Regain" is gracefully baroque, proggish guitar pop about emotional struggle and spiritual evolution. Holzmans careening synth solo is a highlight. McStine sings lead on the folk-tinged closer, "Waiting for the Light." Hes accompanied by acoustic guitars, flute, oboe, and piano, with bass and drums adding gentle drama and sweeping dynamics. Theres 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