Something More

For nearly two decades, Fruition have built their genre-bending version of American roots music around harmony — not just the vocal interplay of the band’s three songwriters, but the deeper harmony created between five friends who’ve spent years on the road together. On their eighth album, Something More, those bonds grow into something more collaborative than ever before.

Produced by Grammy winner Tucker Martine, Something More steps beyond the live-in-the-studio performances of 2024’s How To Make Mistakes. If that overdub-free record nodded to the band’s strength as a live act — to the musical chemistry they’ve been developing since their busking days, when Jay Cobb Anderson, Kellen Asebroek, and Mimi Naja began performing together on Portland street corners — then Something More finds Fruition stepping into an era defined as much by exploration as craft. The recording studio isn’t just a room here; it functions as its own instrument, layering the music with analog tones and atmospheric textures. The result is an indie-influenced Americana record fueled not only by electric guitar, cello, Mellotron, and old-school drum machines, but by the melody-driven songwriting that’s always anchored the band’s sound.

This time around, much of that songwriting took place during collaborative sessions that unfolded everywhere from a lakeside house in Denver to a flower-filled bungalow outside San Diego. There, Fruition’s vocalists teamed up to write songs like “Forward,” “How Does It Feel,” and “By Now,” adding a shared perspective to a band whose previous albums — including 2020’s Wild As The Night, Broken At The Break Of Day, whose lead single “Dawn” became a hit on Americana radio — often threaded three different visions from three different writers. “Writing together is a gentle thing,” says Anderson, who shares frontman duties with his two co-founders. “People can get offended easily, but we’ve known each other for a long time, so it makes it easier to be vulnerable with each other. It’s a sign of maturity.”

Maturity, indeed. Fruition’s melting pot of rock, folk, pop, and soul has never sounded so fully-developed — or so expansive. “Forward” makes room for slide guitar and a dry, deep-pocketed groove inspired by Bahamas, while “All Over” incorporates a vintage drum machine, a finger-plucked chord progression, and dub-inspired reverb influenced by Lee Scratch Perry. For every laidback moment like “Reason To Live” — a rootsy love song, its gorgeous melody punctuated by harmonica — there’s an anthemic counterbalance like “I’m Not Afraid,” whose indie-rock guitar figures and all-hands-on-deck refrains unwind like tailor-made moments for the band’s live show. The title track even turns to gospel music for inspiration, mixing triple-stacked vocal harmonies with live-tracked piano. Tying everything together are autobiographical lyrics that tackle uncertainty, acceptance, and the band’s long journey from past to present.  more...