A Year Of Songs #16 - “Orbital Maneuvers” by Asher Fulero
“Orbital Maneuvers” is the steady rising, vibrant sound of day’s dawning, creation crackling to life with a delightfully funky sproing as light peeks around a planet’s edges.
2024’s Worlds throws lines back to lively genre-stretchers like Pharoah Sanders and Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes and more recent electronic-organic blenders like Kruder & Dorfmeister, Ashley Beedle and Emancipator, whose live band Fulero played keys in. Confidently exploratory throughout, Worlds introduces us to colorful vistas, murmuring expanses, and interesting new soil to curl beneath our mind’s toes.
A tangible forward motion pushes “Orbital Maneuvers, Jack Yaguda’s saxophone breathing slow and steady in the opening moments before thrusters ignite with a mix of programmed and live drums that keeps the vibe modern amidst Fulero’s pleasing analog keyboard throwback touches. Gina Sobel’s delicious flute accents and Brett McConnell’s lap steel moan further enliven the journey with Fulero bringing in and dropping out elements with a badass DJ’s nuance.
Portland’s Asher Fulero is not only one of the West Coast’s most reliably excellent keyboardists, he’s increasingly one of the coolest independent producers and composers going today with a reach and comfort level in everything from jazz to jam, electronica to experimental, twangy to Technicolor, and beyond. Worlds is the best overall showcase of his diverse talents yet, and “Orbital Maneuvers” is a beguiling blooming for ears.
