A London-based project, Fearful Symmetry were founded in 2018 as a rock duo featuring several genres such as 'classic' progressive rock, jazz, or art rock, by the cousins Suzi James and Jeremy Shotts.
Their new album, I’ve Started, So I’ll Finish (for those of you outside the UK, famous as the phrase used in cerebral quiz Mastermind when the timeout buzzer sounds, but the host is part way through asking the “final” question) is another released via the increasingly important and impressive Progrock.com’s Essentials.
In addition to multi-instrumentalist James, returning are vocalist are Yael Shotts, and the drummer Sharon Petrover. We also have one of my favourite modern musicians, Mark Cook (Herd of Instinct, Djam Karet) playing his Warr multi-string touch guitar on “There are No Words”.
You can read all about the band and how to get both physical and digital produce at https://www.fearfulsymmetry.rocks/ The packaging is utterly lush, and very much worth you considering for the physical.
So, ten tracks in 53 minutes of music. Let’s consider it.
We open with One by One, a song of letting go of the past, the ties which bind us and facing the future challenges one by one. There is a glorious fusion sense from the outset, and I heard this track on a colleague’s show on Progzilla Radio recently and was struck forcefully by Yael’s expressive voice. This is such an optimistic noise, combining that fusion with some heavy blues and rock, a joyful start to an album, and it is embedded below for you. Enjoy those grooves.
There is a story behind Hard As Diamonds, and I would like to find out more, someone leaving despite the children crying, and her left behind having to be strong, to face down the situation, and being hard. There is some Americana at the core of this, the synths and guitar working well together, a lush bass melody underpinning it all, the vocals realising the vision perfectly, some high notes moving the listener, the guitar dripping with blues expression, by now the serious listener knowing he/she is in the company of a special musician.
The Demented Third (what a title) is an instrumental and it is fantastic, a variety of influences here, from the classic old-time heavy blues to the intricacies of a Rush passage, James showing her fret dexterity to maximum effect. As I write this review, I am planning my radio show for tomorrow, and YYZ features on that show, the killer track from Moving Pictures. This stands comparison with it, the bass work especially stunning, and the lush flute solo a welcome contrast, so cleverly executed.
On the Streets Today has an interesting image of one of those protestors in the Guy Fawkes mask holding a question mark on a banner. And it talks about lies and truths, both in the mind of the deceiver and the believer, the modern social media fuelled world becoming increasingly difficult to fathom and differentiate between the two. I love the vocal on this, as expressive as a voice can get, reminding me of Rachel Jones, and on this website, that is about as high a praise as it gets. James gives us a note perfect guitar solo. Delightful music, the closing passage oozing with emotion.
Someone is a song every romantic in love with their life partner will recognise and empathise with, the person who stops you from falling, who is near when you are afar. I adore this type of lyric, a celebration of life and love. The guitar at the beginning is dirty and suggestive, the track developing into a nice fusion of the pop, rock, fusion, more complexity within it than that descriptor might suggest, a song which has a joy that deserves repeated airplay.
The Dance of the Ghillie Dhu follows. The Ghillie Dhu lives in the forests of deepest Scotland, living alone, hiding, only coming out at night, but a protector of young visitors to his domain, frightened and lost. As one would expect, there is a Gaelic hue to this, a pastoral wonder, the work by Petrover a credit to his craft, the guitar work supreme in its guise. This is one of the finest of modern folk-rock tracks in recent years, something fans of music by BBT and Tull especially should appreciate.
The second instrumental is the suitably titled There Are No Words, returning to the jazz fusion regime, some clever interplay between keys, guitar, and bass, Cook displaying his sheer talent. Think of Holdsworth and Fletcher, and you will be there. Essential music for the questing soul.
Everything and Nothing is a superb polemic on the nature of narcissism, power, cruelty, the deception inherent in modern politics, the devastating impact on the victims. The vocals are haunting, the instrumentation by James evocative and powerful in its understatement. The guitar bursts are stunning, albeit all too short.
I love the final instrumental, Theme for an Imaginary Cop Show. Simply place yourselves in a Kojak, Starsky & Hutch, McCleod et al universe, and lap up the music which was a very important part of that bygone television culture. A jazzy treat. Listen to it at the foot of this review.
We close with an epic track, Tears of the Gods. Izanagi and Izanami are central to the origin myth of Shinto, and this is a homage to that, but interspersed with a commentary on how we in the modern world might finally fuck everything up and be the architects of our own destruction. We will drown in the tears of the gods. You would expect this to be infused with the spirit of the mysterious east, and Suzi doesn’t disappoint. A very clever operatic song which manages with aplomb that difficult merging of complexity with accessibility, and a very strong contender for my “epic of the year” award at year-end, and worth the entrance fee for the dark guitar solos alone. The mood does darken appropriately as the track considers our (entirely avoidable if we have the will) ultimate fate, the fretwork stunning.
This is a wonderful album, which gives up more of its secrets on each listen. It can be found at https://fearfulsymmetry.bandcamp.com/album/ive-started-so-ill-finish-24-bit and I cannot recommend it highly enough.