G Clef Fusion – Recondite Obbligato
G Clef Fusion – Recondite Obbligato – Album Review
It always makes me super nervous when I see an artist or band has pumped out EIGHT records in less than two years’ time. Crossing my fingers for ya G Clef Fusion, and with the others I’m pushing play…
“This is my Protest album, a critique of the music industry model against artists, a shout from obscurity…” I’ve got love for that. As I was looking over the titles of the songs on this album I was under the impression it was going to be a protest against the people writing about the music given the degree of difficulty it takes to write these tunes out in print. Like – “Proscenium Of The Penetralia” for example – what in the all heck is that? Believe me when I tell ya, that’s actually one of the easier ones too…you just wait until we reach track three and I start writing at a snail’s pace. Anyhow. G Clef Fusion gets its instrumentation flashin’ quick as “Proscenium Of The Penetralia” snaps into gear…solid rhythm section at the core to hold it down, wild keys overtop…great synth sounds. All-in-all, it’s a Progressive style of Jazz/Rock…all instrumental for those that haven’t heard one of the millions of albums that G Clef Fusion has put out over the last couple years, and all created by one dude – Chuck Moyer. No doubt about the skill it takes to do what he does, and for those about to Rock Jazz-Fusion, we of course, fully salute you.
As we shift into “Playing Knights And Weak Ends” you’ll hear all kinds of…hey – WAIT A MINUTE – I see what you did with that song title Chuck, you sly devil you. Wordplay! Fun! Who doesn’t love a bit of that, am I right folks? I love how you can hear the timing and pace of this song slowly morph as it plays, especially right around the 1:25 mark…the kind of moment where, if everything didn’t move along with it you’d have sworn it was an error, but everything did, so right on. “Playing Knights And Weak Ends” makes great use of its main piano lead and laser-like synth sounds in the mix…it’s playful, but also real heckin’ serious too. Ain’t no doubt about the fact that Chuck can jam – he’s right in the groove for sure.
Okay. Now what in the world is “Honorificabilitudinitatibus” about? Did I spell that correctly? Hopefully so, because I’m copying & pasting it from here on in. Anyhow…so…after three tracks you get a good sense of where this music is gonna go – it’s musician’s musician type-stuff…and not only is that a niche spot in the realm of music to begin with, you factor in the Progressive/Jazz elements, and it’s just about as narrow of a slice of the audience pie as one can potentially pursue. So I don’t really know what I could tell good ol’ Chuck…you don’t go into making tracks like “Honorificabilitudinitatibus” without knowing that, or indeed a record like this overall. Do I like listening to it? Sure! Am I the exception and not the rule? Always! Would the masses out there get this? Not a freakin’ chance. But like I said – he knows that, so I’m not exactly breaking news for the guy in an assessment like that. I think the more adventurous among us would enjoy a set-list like this, and of course those out there that are looking for something they can sing along with will probably run screaming in the other direction, that’s the reality. Not just because it’s instrumental and that the material would be extremely tough to sing along with for that reason, but because it’s as complex as it is to the average everyday listener, and even to musicians.
“To Chew Ones Cabbage Twice” sounds nightmarish to me…I wouldn’t even chew my cabbage once, let alone two times. As a song it sounds fine, don’t get me wrong…I’m just saying as a titular concept, I am O-U-T, and tyvm. It’s just such a vile and flavorless leaf of desolate nothingness…but maybe that’s just my own take on cabbage. The song itself…“To Chew Ones Cabbage Twice” has a great breakdown around the two-minute mark, robust definition to its synth parts and good sear on its tones. You know if I’m being honest with ya, it sounds much more like a meaty steak to me because of the searing tones of the lead…but I suppose no one has stated specifically that the cabbage in question hasn’t been seared – perhaps it has. Really inventive drums in this tune…listen to spots like the aforementioned breakdown, or around the 3:45 mark too…it’s definitely well-played stuff when it comes right down to it – I don’t think there’s a whole lot more we could ask from the Chuckster & what he brings to his music.
As always, I am endlessly real with ya…I know that most people, the average everyday listeners that I consistently refer to & still somewhat represent despite all that I’ve listened to in this one lifetime, would have completely tapped out by the end of the fourth song if they’d even made it that far. That’s no knock on what Chuck can do, that’s no knock against what G Clef Fusion is creating – it’s merely a comment on the threshold on the patience level of the people and what their ears can absorb. G Clef creates a whole lotta sound, and that’s the facts…some people can handle that, and most can’t – that’s simply objective reality and any Progressive or Jazz musician – or both in this case – is well aware of that. “Acoustical Apojove” takes it down a notch and could be arguably more palatable for listeners out there…but even with its more gentle demeanor, Chuck’s still shifting time & space around ya, which is always going to be somewhat of an obstacle for many folks tuning in. I think it’s safe to say at this point it’s pretty apparent that he ain’t catering to the base-level listener…this is advanced class stuff, 100%.
“Gallionic Monachopsis Ditty” – again, I says pardon? You can always tell a mind that works on a different level, and I have the feeling that no one ever accuses Chuck of being normal, you feel me? I like the stops & starts of this one…“Gallionic Monachopsis Ditty” has a whole bunch of complexity to it and uniqueness too for that matter. It’s mathematically maddening without a doubt, but in the right way – G Clef Fusion is rockin’ strong with full confidence, and there’s honestly no mistakes as far as I can ever tell. I’m by no means any kind of mathematician to begin with, or even half as skilled as our sonic hero is here…and I’d be the first to admit that, if there was ever a type of music that could easily mask mistakes it WOULD be Progressive Jazz, as most of us normies would never know what was or what wasn’t intentional…but with all that being said, it seems like Chuck really plays with intent and purpose. At the very least, undeniable confidence…which is probably what makes everything sound so deliberate as we listen to tracks like “Gallionic Monachopsis Ditty,” and that for as many changes as it makes along the way, we never hear the guy slipping up or falling out of time. He’s a pro musician without a doubt.
“The Daring Beauty You” would definitely be up there with my own personal favorites on this record – I’m a big fan of clean piano sounds, and you get a lot of those leading the way through the melody on the surface in this tune. Does it need all the synth sounds backin’ it up? Probably not, no! But I think that’s just Chuck…I don’t get the impression he’s ever gonna be satisfied with going an easier route, despite the fact that he’d probably be making music with more avenues of accessibility if he did. So, for me…yeah…I’d likely have wanted a layer or two less when it comes right down to it, but “The Daring Beauty You” still provides my ears with a lot of what I’m looking for. Listen to moments like you’ll find around the 2:45 mark too, where he really takes the keys for a stroll…he’s sincerely a fantastic talent, and that’s radiantly apparent on every one of these songs. If you’ve got a strong background in music and/or math, you’ll get that much more out of it all…but if you don’t, you’ll probably be more like myself & find the easiest gateways into this album are going to be through songs like “The Daring Beauty You.”
“Prefer A Slap Over Preterition” – I agree! Or, more accurately, I agree now that I’ve googled preterition and have a clue of what Chuck is gettin’ at. You know what’s frustrating? Microsoft Word. Preterition IS out there in every dictionary, yet for whatever reason, I’m still getting the red underscore of death here in MS Word telling me that it’s spelt wrong. Well it AIN’T, so back off AI, I know what I’m doing (kinda). Anyhow. Basically, the title is communicating something I’ve long believed in as a music critic – essentially, Chuck is arguing on behalf of anything but indifference. Even a slap is better than that, and I couldn’t agree more. Love it or hate it, whatever it is we do as humans, please just don’t let it be totally and utterly ignored. I hear ya Chuckster! Makes perfect sense to me man. As a person that basically IS ignored every day by the masses & mainstream, and has been for nearly a decade in doing what I do, I can tell ya wholeheartedly that the few people that get what real independent music journalism and commentary should be about, completely make my world turn. I don’t know what most folks will likely make out of what G Clef Fusion does…assuming they give it a proper chance & all…I’d bet it’s very much beyond what most people can hang with, but hopefully, pass or fail, they at least let Chuck know how they truly feel about it all. For myself personally, I love the fact that he’s included cleverness like the slap bass synth sounds on “Prefer A Slap Over Preterition” – that’s an extra layer of genius to put in there for those really listening. Beyond that, again, I’ve got lots of love for the adventurous nature of the structure & sound, the production is tight, and to me, songs like this end up being a lot of fun to listen to. It’s definitely a whole lot of work to put something like this together and get everything right, but once again, we have to assume that G Clef has given that we don’t hear anything that’s out of place.
“By Weight Not By Tale” is another cut that has a lot of distinct groove to it, and I think it’s another one of the record’s more impressive tunes. Not sure if those are synthetic harmonics he’s rockin’ with, but I love a lot of the frequencies, textures, and tones he’s chosen throughout this track – and once again, he programs drums that are freakin’ animalistic and genuinely badass to listen to. Is that a bird chirping in the background of this one too – or is that happening outside my window? Time and repetition will tell me…I’m going with it being a chirp right here in the song…a little bit of that good ol’ digital organic stuff for you to enjoy if you’re paying close attention. And then I push pause for a moment and the first thing I hear is a bird chirping? Alright…now I genuinely have no idea which way is up, and that’s pretty much Chuck’s fault, so I’m leaving all this stuff in here. Could the bird be a fan of Progressive Jazz/Rock and be chirping in time? Nature’s incredible man, I tell ya. I’ll be real with ya G Clef…I’d probably be inclined to go with shorter records…I think the demands on the ol’ ears listening are bound to get the best of us – not just me, but most out there…and we really might start to lose our grip on reality by the end of this.
“Joy Of Missing Out” – I love it! That’s right! FORGET YOUR FOMO, because that SUCKS. Embrace the JOY y’all…that’s where it’s at, and once again, I find myself completely agreeing with the good reverend Chuckster. In fact, I don’t even know if I have ever truly felt the fear of missing out – that’s how much JOY I get out of missing out. Alone time is just about the only time I enjoy…I suppose I’d fear missing out on that, but that’s about it. Moving on. Dig the organ sounds in this track…I think you could even say that a track like “Joy Of Missing Out” has some throwback elements to its sound that could be traced back to the 70s era, where I suppose you could argue that real Prog was born in the first place. I have no joy for missing out on the 70s being an 80s kid…but I thankfully had parents that raised me with the right kind of music playing in the background as I grew up. Other than that, I mean…I’m Generation X y’all…everything about my childhood was broken to the nth degree and when I say ‘raised’ by my parents I’m definitely implying that wolves could have done a more complete job – but musically, they got that right. Between the two different places I’d live, mom’s house and dad’s house, I got a wide variety of styles, sounds, artists, and bands that still help me in listening to everything that I do to this day. So thanks for that, mom & dad! Heck you both for the rest, but thank you so much for the music!
“Sciamachy” is basically the art of what I was just taking part in. It’s defined by having an “argument or conflict with an imaginary opponent” – take THAT mom and dad! Ohhhhhhhh – sick BURN! All kidding aside, I’ve enjoyed learning as I’ve been listening to this album, and “Sciamachy” is definitely amongst the record’s most unique tracks by far. You can hear it speeding up at the beginning as the intro plays on, and for myself personally, I was simply hoping that it continued to retain its uniqueness from there, which it did. Don’t get me wrong, Chuck’s a heck of a musician – but like many a great synth player out there, he can tend to get locked into some styles, patterns, and sounds that are very similar to us mortals…and it’s the kind of variation you find in “Sciamachy” that really gets noticed. I don’t think that necessarily makes anything easier for the average everyday listener to absorb, but I do think they’ll at least appreciate the fact they’ll know a different song has actually come on – make sense? It probably does to you, and likely doesn’t to Chuck…he’s gonna be sure that he’s been rocking with 100% different stuff the entire way through the set-list, because that’s the actual truth at the core of its fundamentals and how a person with real musical chops would hear things. For the rest of us, we’ve only got what you’d call perception y’all…which is merely an illusion that plays off of our own thoughts & projections – to us, it can often be difficult to really know where something starts or finishes when you’ve got music and material that moves in a similar way. That’s why tracks like “Sciamachy” are so crucial to find – this is the kind of sonic diversity every set of ears can genuinely hear, and I think the people really need that when it comes to this particular style of fusion-based music. They dig the separation & they need it too.
“If I Only Knew” is another stellar cut for the way its diversity, rhythm, and bounce is sure to catch the people’s attention out there. It’s also got a remarkable amount in common with old-school eighties videogame soundtracks too if I’m being entirely honest with ya…but that’s really a comment on how little they were recognized for their awesomeness, and how easily recognizable the awesomeness is outside of’em now. “If I Only Knew” has the kind of melodic spark that will definitely be a winner with the people listening, even if they can’t quite wrap their minds around how the sausage gets made, you following me? I think a lot of folks out there are more than content to listen to things they don’t fully understand, it’s just tougher to convince them to DO that…once you get’em in there though, they’re more than fine with checking something out with the kind of personality a track like “If I Only Knew” has. I felt like this was a real contender for my own favorite tunes on Recondite Obbligato all-around.
“Kobayashi Maru” would probably be the track I was the most on the fence about…though it’s still not something I’d consider to be unfit for the album overall. I gotta say, as daunting as a fifteen track lineup is and how much I’ve repeatedly said there are about three perfect albums with more than twelve songs on’em… Recondite Obbligato holds up really strong with its cohesive lineup of fifteen tunes. Essentially, I think that if you’ve made it this far, you’ll have no problem with “Kobayashi Maru” either, I guess that’s what I’m getting at. Is it crucial to the set-list? Would the album be that much tighter without it? All I could do is theorize on that…I don’t think we could ever really know the answer one way or the other. I guess my personal opinion on “Kobayshi Maru” is that it’s less convincing that it furthers the album in any way – make sense? So…again, not a bad tune and not a bad fit either, just a much harder argument to make on behalf of it pushing Recondite Obbligato to do anything much differently than it already has.
“Mellifluous Despite Its Tone,” aka, the opposite of ME in the majority of cases. Another more piano-led track on the record, I actually felt like it took a bit more for me to get into this cut as well, even though it’s got one of my favorite sounds on earth leading the way through its main melody. The crispness of the drums on “Mellifluous Despite Its Tone” were actually my favorite part on this track, though I’d be the first to tell ya that the piano solo around the 1:30-ish mark really started to turn the tides and get me fully onboard with this song. I guess you could say it’s the kind of track that took me a couple spins to find my way into, but once I found the right avenues in, I pretty much found myself digging it. There are a few contrasting tones and notes within this one…what do they call that in an instrumental…is that still considered a counter-melody of sorts? Honestly, I’m not at all sure about how that would be described…it sounds like hitting two notes at once, and usually that’s a less intentional thing when it comes to music-makin’ out there in the independent scene. With everything Chuck plays being fueled by so much precision and intent however, you have to assume it’s done on purpose for sure. So that’s the kind of thing that you’ll find makes this more of a musician’s musician type of album, know what I mean? The average everyday listener is gonna hear stuff like that differently than a seasoned veteran of the keyboards would. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, it’s just important to consider what both sides of the fence are going to hear…doesn’t mean you gotta cater to it, but you’ll know what to expect from the comments made in the court of public opinion. I still enjoyed this cut…just took me a while to get into it.
The final track of the record is “Make It Up In Volume” – and what a journey it has been to get to this point, has it not? Like I was mentioning earlier…I think anything beyond twelve tracks is always a tough go & a real challenge to any artist or band. “Make It Up In Volume” is still a decent tune too – but once more, I have a hard time arguing that it really furthers the record or was completely necessary to include with the whole smorgasbord of sound we’ve already had. If anything, I suppose that’s what I was getting at in the very first paragraph of this review…I genuinely wonder what, if anything, hits the cutting room floor with Chuck’s music in G Clef Fusion…I don’t know that I’m convinced anything does! That’s not necessarily a bad thing…and I mean, I GET IT for what it’s worth – you make something, you spend all that time creating it, perfecting it, producing it and recording it – it is tough to let anything go. My argument is to simply keep an eye & an ear on the set-list, always make sure that each song is bringing something important to the lineup of an album overall, and being as brutally objective as you possibly can be in trying to consider things from the average everyday listener’s side of things. I’ve got no real issues with “Make It Up In Volume” as a standalone track, but I’m less sure it belongs on a fifteen song record – make sense? No one ever says anyone HAS to throw their music away – there are plenty of different ways to put it out there into this world, which you can see Chuck has done previously in his other recordings as G Clef Fusion – not every album is fifteen tracks long, and that’s probably beneficial to him bringing more people in to listen, and to listen for longer when they do. Dude’s one heck of a player and there’s no doubt about that…now it’s all about what he wants to accomplish with his music. We know he doesn’t want it to be ignored, or for people to feel indifferent about it…so as to whether or not he’ll continue to bend it more towards a higher degree of accessibility to all…I suppose time will tell.
Find out more about G Clef Fusion at the official website at: https://gcleffusion.com
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