Reviews

'Fusion are a young band from Worcester specialising in 'psychedelic/alternative/rock'. For me, though, 'Fusion capture the whole essence of what became known as the West Coast scene of the mid to late 60s.

What I find interesting is that four youngsters like this have chosen to completely avoid the all-too-common approach irritatingly known as 'indie'. That's a great move, though, as 'Fusion have done a fantastic job on this rather tasty three-tracker.

Here they keep it clean and mellow, refusing to go for over-embellishment and multi-effects. Their melodic songs are therefore bright, crisp and airy. There's some nice jangly guitars and occasional relaxed sonic riffs, soothing keyboards, workmanlike punctuative bass and drums, and their great voices come together as one to make up the beautifully charged 'Fusion sound.

'Fusion have been clever in not trying to be too clever - honesty is always the best policy and this demo sure has an honesty about it - what a refreshing thing to find nowadays!

There's a certain maturity about fusion's work too; playing very much as a unit, they each support the others with intelligent playing of sparsely populated instrumentation. Just occasionally 'Fusion drift off into the realms of experimental psychedelia, but even here they keep it beautifully real and uncluttered. Well proportioned vocal harmonies pop into the equation here and there to add that sweet vocal feel of the long-gone era. This is very clever stuff and really pleasing on the ear!

Having likened the band to the West Coast movement they do, 'Fusion's sound and style is still very much their own and therefore doesn't feel at all retro. Top marks from me for taking this melodic but slightly mystical route!

'Fusion's understated but blissfully evocative music, together with their focussed approach, result in a demo that suggests a bright future for this outfit. I hope Fusion stick to their musical 'guns' and persevere with this vibrant and pretty exciting sound; 'Fusion rock as they sooth, 'Fusion excite and entice, 'Fusion are different and 'Fusion are extremely good at what they do. Personally, I can't wait to hear more from this excellent sounding band - I think there's still a little room for improvement, perhaps in the mixing and final production - but even that's minimal. Generally, everything's there and quite nicely in place - I'll be watching out for Fusion - a great band with a decent future methinks.

You can listen to all of the latest music from across the two counties on the Friday Session Introducing... every week from 7pm, on BBC Hereford & Worcester.