New Fruition Album Broken At The Break Of Day Out Today

Article Contributed by IVPR | Published on Friday, January 17, 2020

Hot on the heels of their recent release, Wild As The Night, Portland-based roots-rock darlings Fruition have just released another brand new collection of songs, Broken at the Break of Day. The new seven-song album was recorded in between tour dates in Fruition drummer Tyler Thompson’s newly constructed home studio, and like Fruition’s past releases, this collection of songs won’t fit into one box. Although it’s a challenge to categorize, Broken at the Break of Day feels whole because of the band’s dedication to honesty as well as harmony. Working as perfect companion pieces, both Wild as the Night and Broken at the Break of Day are being released together on 180g vinyl, giving listeners the option to hear the two newest Fruition releases as a collective body of work in this playlist-focused era. Broken at the Break of Day can be heard here and the double vinyl can be purchased here. The band is in Denver tonight, marking the release of the new album with a sold out show at the 3950 seat Mission Ballroom.

Broken At The Break Of Day’s lead single, “Dawn”—which Billboard premiered, praising its “melodic” and “harmony-laden” arrangement—is already climbing to #8 on the Americana Tracks chart and #22 on the AAA Indicator chart and has been added to 50 stations in its first two weeks. The album is currently number 21 on the Americana Album chart and #30 on the JBE Public Chart.

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 Tyler Thompson (drums)—whether it’s on the traded lead vocals of “Dawn” or the irresistible rhythms of “Where Can I Turn.” As it’s been for more than a decade, their sound is hard to define, but the songwriting and the harmonies tie their diverse influences together.

For example, “Counting the Days” is a poignant love letter, while “For You” shows the exasperation of maintaining a relationship on the road. The band’s most electrifying rock moment, “Do What You Want,” is then followed by “Nothing More Than Spinning,” which sounds like a folk song interpreted by Queen. The stunning vocal blend heard in “At the End of the Day” brings Broken at the Break of Day to its beautiful and touching conclusion.

“This process was the quickest the band had ever written and recorded the songs,” Thompson says. “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 says. “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.”

With a renewed focus on harnessing the energy of the live experience, Wild as the Night and Broken at the Break of Day allow listeners to get a glimpse of all five band members doing what they do best on stage, whether they’re opening for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, and Jack Johnson, or playing at festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo, and DelFest.

Their unmistakable vocal blend first revealed itself 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.

“We pushed ourselves like never before. But in the end, it all turned out great,” Anderson says about the sessions for Broken at the Break of Day. “It was a bit more of a hectic process to get things done and recorded. I can’t believe it sounds so good when we did it all so fast.”

In addition to the new digital and vinyl releases, Fruition have also announced a slew of new tour dates, adding to their already-busy 2020 schedule. January and February take the band through the midwest and northeast. March will find Fruition playing their way through the American South before turning west to Indiana and Missouri on their way to WinterWonderGrass at California’s Squaw Valley Resort. Stops include NPR’s Mountain Stage (who included the single “Wild as the Night”  in their November roundup of “Best New Songs,” noting the “cascade of harmonies feels like a 21st-century soft-rock treasure”), The Basement East in Nashville, Asheville Music Hall, Indianapolis’s HI FI, and the Record Bar in Kansas City, MO. A full list of tour dates can be found below.

Catch Fruition On Tour:

Jan. 17 - Denver, CO - Mission Ballroom ^ (SOLD OUT)

Jan. 20 - Steamboat Springs, CO - Cowboy Downhill Concert

Jan. 22 - Des Moines, IA - Wooly’s %

Jan. 23 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club %

Jan. 24 - Milwaukee, WI - Back Room at Colectivo %

Jan. 25 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall %

Jan. 26 - Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme %

Jan. 28 - Ferndale, MI - Otus Supply %

Jan. 30 - Concord, NH - Bank of New Hampshire Stage &

Jan. 31 - Somerville, MA - ONCE Ballroom &

Feb. 1 - Albany, NY - The Hollow &

Feb. 5 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl @ 

Feb. 6 - Washington, DC - Union Stage @ 

Feb. 7 - Ardmore, PA - Ardmore Music Hall @ 

Feb. 8 - Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theater @

Feb. 9 - Charleston, WV - Mountain Stage

Feb. 29-Mar. 1 - Frisco, CO - Subaru Winterfest

Mar. 3 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern Cafe & Music Hall

Mar. 5 - Knoxville, TN - Open Chord #

Mar. 6 - Nashville, TN - Basement East #

Mar. 7 - Asheville, NC - Asheville Music Hall #

Mar. 10 - Covington, KY - Madison Live #

Mar. 11 - Indianapolis, IN - HI-FI #

Mar. 12 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar +

Mar. 13 - St. Louis, MO - Old Rock House +

Mar. 14 - Kansas City, KS - recordBar +

Mar. 26-28 - Olympic Valley, CA - WinterWonderGrass at Squaw Valley Resort

Apr. 1 - Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room =

Apr. 2 - Jackson Hole, WY - Pink Garter Theatre =

Apr. 3 - Bozeman, MT - Rialto =

Apr. 4 - Missoula, MT - Top Hat =

Apr. 5 - Sandpoint, ID - Heartwood Center =

May 22 - Martinsville, VA - Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival

June 14 -Laytonville, CA - The Hog Farm Hangout

July 16 - North Plains, OR - Northwest String Summit

 

^ w/ The California Honeydrops

% w/ The Mighty Pines

& w/ Caleb Elliott

@ w/ Lindsay Lou

# w/ Katie Toupin

+ w/ Goodnight, Texas

= w/ TK And The Holy Know Nothings

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