It’s an interesting idea, being a prisoner to your own success. You start out with your dreams, work your tail off, and then find out what got you to where you are is what’s holding you back from your future. Portland, Oregon’s Fruition found themselves with a little bit of that happening when the pandemic hit. It gave them a forced, but needed, break to reorient themselves and when they got back together it was with a renewed sense of purpose. You can hear that refreshed love of music in their new album, How To Make Mistakes.
To be clear, if you’re a fan of the band, this isn’t a new sound. What’s new is enough confidence in their vocal harmonies and instrumental chops that they could record the entire record live over the course of a week. No overdubs, no producer suggesting different takes, just get in the studio as a group and lay it down. The record title comes from Made To Break, with its beautiful harmonies and admission that learning and adapting are processes, not an end goal. The Price of Sound Advice oozes honesty in an examination of true value, anchored by a car experience many people can relate to. It’s followed up by One By One, an old-timey number with a swinging, loping tempo.
A little more unexpected was Can You Tell Me, a bluesy, swampy sounding number. Maybe I’m projecting because of the magnitude of the problem in Portland, but the song seems to be trying for an understanding of how people get to that point in their lives. Another comment on a social issue is Hard To Make Money, a funky tune with tasty electric guitar observing “the poor stay needy while the rich stay greedy.” Take It Back could be an East Nashville country song about coping with addiction and being there for others when you break the cycle yourself.
Fruition started as a string band, in no small part because their origins in busking didn’t easily accommodate other instruments. Somewhere along the way that sound got them lumped in with the bluegrass and jam grass bands. With their love of playing festivals that label didn’t steer their audience too wrong. After 15 years, though, they’re ready to push out beyond that envelope and How To Make Mistakes shows just how good that can be.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.