Continuum

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		Overture - Fractional	5:53	Play
2		Coda - Reflexion	4:14	Play
3		Prominence	10:46	Play
4		Turgidus Maximus	5:25	Play
5		Rave7	3:58	Play
6		Particle Wave	8:23	Play
7		Echo Chamberlain Suite, Part I	7:20	Play
8		Echo Chamberlain Suite, Part II	3:32	Play
9		Echo Chamberlain Suite, Part III	0:07	Play
10		Fractal Countdown	7:04	Play
11		Continuum	6:30	Play

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Description

The music of Fractal is electric - sometimes heavily riffing, sometimes lyrical and delicate. Occasionally complex but, above all, filled with emotional intensity. Fractal revels in the art of creating richly textured, layered sounds (on the album as well as on stage), making extensive use of challenging musical structures. Fractal's expressive sound is propelled by Jim's talents in sonic sculpture (creating a swirling wall of sound while playing bass guitar). Nic's virtuous electric guitar coupled with guitar-driven synthesis and looping affords rich accumulations of texture. Paul's energetic drumming is combined with a mastery of the medium of V-drumming (with its wide palette of percussive and other sounds).

The debut Fractal album Continuum takes the listener on a journey through a progression of musical styles, emotional states, and sonic territories. The opening track Fractional embarks from a solid prog-rock idiom, concluding with an emotional coda, Reflexion. Immediately abandoning the relatively familiar, they launch into intense ensemble improvisation in Prominence, veering through some frightening tonal terrain. An idiosyncratic take on heavy metal follows, in Turgidus Maximus. The exploration of dance in odd time with the single-length Rave7, its incessant 'army of guitar' riffing introducing elements of trance. Along with Particle Wave, where rapid dance-rhythm drumming contrasts with layered atmospheric textures and reflective melodies, it effects a transition into the contemplative and serene loop-based Echo Chamberlain Suite. Fractal Countdown, one of Fractal's first group compositions, in spite of an unrelenting succession of shifting meters, ultimately achieves a spontaneous groove. Continuum, the final track, presents the most emotionally charged song on the album, through the combination of heavy-rock driving riffs and haunting melodic soundscapes.


Some words people had to say about Fractal's music:

"I finally managed to find time to listen to "Continuum" by Fractal. This is a wonderful album of many contrasting colours/flavours - my favourite track at present being the title track which is a great piece with excellent asymmetric riffing and some really good sounds/textures. There's an emotional yet muted solo that immediately precedes the very cruel, wicked ending."

- Mark Graham, webmaster, The FraKctured Zone (http://www frakctured.ukf.net)

"Crushed Beauty"

- Dave Mihaly of Mushroom (about Turgidus Maximus)

"There is cosmic feeling in Fractal Continuum, and this double "uu" can be heard in the music, if one listens carefully.

The rhythm is infectious. It shakes the listener to the point of becoming an automatic pendulum. This means the abrupt changes of rhythm are hard to adjust to. The transformation would have been more thorough if the lights had worked. They didn't, so the sound was left alone to work the magic."

- Miha Ahronovitz, audience member at a Fractal live show (by email)


Fractal is:

Jim Mallonee - Bass Guitar, Synthesizers, Pedals, MIDI Bass Guitar, moog

Nic Roozeboom - Guitars, Synthesizers, Guitar-driven Synthesizers, Looping

Paul Strong - Drums, Percussion, Noises & Treatments


Fractal first convened in November of 2000 (thanks to a friend, Adrian Cockcroft, who posted an invite on Paul's behalf on King Crimson enthusiast site Elephant Talk) in San Jose, California. Nic and Jim were the first two to reply, and strangely enough the three have been together since then. It was more than a little fortuitous that such an unlikely grouping (Paul having just moved from the UK, Jim from Baltimore, and Nic from the Netherlands) has resulted in such a well-balanced complement of talents and musical personalities.

Fractal started gigging in summer of 2001 and has continued intermittently ever since. In July of 2002, we started recordings for our first CD, Continuum.