“One of the things that makes Burnt Belief unique in the world of instrumental progressive rock/fusion oriented musics” asserts guitarist and co-founder Jon Durant, “is that we are not at all focused on displays of chops, but rather focus on trying to tell stories through the music.” That’s an accurate summation of the mission of the Durant/Colin Edwin project, and that project is now in its third chapter with the recent release of Emergent (offered via the Alchemy Records label).
Emergent shows no sway from that mission, the only tactical change is going with Vinny Sabatino as the sole drummer instead of drumming by committee. “Ghosts Aquatic” ends another consistent endeavor for Burnt Belief and from what’s evident from listening in the video debuting above, this is choice headphone music.
Durant carefully builds a sonic structure in a lush bed of oscillations over a simple pattern; the complexity comes in layers of celestial sounds coming together as a singular harmony. For his part, Edwin spins threads of pulsing low tones using both acoustic fretless and electric basses, his counterpoints perfectly filling in the voids left by Durant.
Come to think of it, there is a display of chops going on here. It’s all there in the guise of subtle sublimity.
