Oregon-based roots/rock band Fruition to make stop at Pyramid Scheme Jan. 26

Fruition photographed in Lisbon, Portugal, in October 2019. Fruition is Jay Cobb Anderson, Kellen Asebroek, Jeff Leonard, Mimi Naja and Tyler Thompson (drums). (Supplied/Jay Blakesberg)

By WKTV Staff
ken@wktv.org

Fruition, the seemingly always busy Portland, Oregon band traversing the country and making a local stop this weekend, is clearly also busy recording new material — including songs which showcase why they are selling out so many of their shows.

After releasing Wild As The Night in late 2019, the band this last week announced is new 7-song EP titled Broken at the Break of Day, recorded in between tour dates in Fruition drummer Tyler Thompson’s newly constructed home studio.

Songs from both releases will undoubtedly be on the set list Sunday, Jan. 26, as the band, with opener The Mighty Pines, visit Grand Rapids’ Pyramid Scheme, with doors open at 6 p.m. show. Tickets are still available, visit here for more information.

About the new release, the band says that, as with its other music, “this collection of songs won’t fit into one box.”

Broken At The Break Of Day’s lead single, “Dawn” is already climbing on the Billboard Americana Tracks chart as is the collection on the Americana Album chart. For a video of “Dawn” visit here.

Broken at the Break of Day shines a light on all five members of the band — Jay Cobb Anderson (electric guitar, vocals), Kellen Asebroek (piano, acoustic guitar vocals), Jeff Leonard (bass), Mimi Naja (mandolin, electric guitar, vocals) and Thompson (drums). But “the songwriting and the harmonies tie their diverse influences together,” the band says in promotional material.

“This process was the quickest the band had ever written and recorded the songs,” Thompson said in supplied material. “All the songs obviously fit either a ‘day’ or ‘night’ theme, but the whole rehearsing and recording process had to be done in about half the amount of time we were used to. That time limitation leant to us not overthinking things, playing instinctually — and all live — in the studio with very minimal overdubs. All the songs are very different, but I think the speedy process naturally created some sonic congruency.”

“From a visibility standpoint, being able to release more music more often — even if it is in smaller doses — is ideal in the new frontier of digital music that we have found ourselves smack dab in the middle of,” Asebroek said, also in supplied material. “It’s nice to be able to stay on people’s radar, in an age where people have instant access to the whole of music history at their fingertips. It’s also nice to put these out together on vinyl as a nod to the way things once were.”

The band’s history, so the supplied story goes, starts in 2008 when Anderson tagged along with Asebroek and Naja for an afternoon of busking in Portland. Drawing on their string-band influences early on, they released their debut album Hawthorne Hoedown that same year. Thompson joined the band in 2011, shortly after hearing the band members singing together in a friend’s attic. Leonard came on board in 2015.

Broken at the Break of Day is the band’s tenth release, including EPs and LPs.

Fruition has opened shows for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, and Jack Johnson, and appeared at festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo, and DelFest.