Points of Departure

Bruce delivers a mature album that shows new direction and influence, while retaining all the best qualities of his previous albums. This album certainly shows more progression to synth sounds and programmed rhythms, with some truly awesome and lush pad sounds and quirky effect sounds that generate some extra interest when thrown in the mix with the usual eclectic mix of organs, guitar, bass, piano and such. Bruce also has shown that musicality doesn't always need to be complex, even in the jazz arena, not everything must be in impossible timing signatures and going off all over the map - virtuosity can be a simple group of notes and motifs, not just 32nd notes playing complicated scales. Music like Organometallic and Let It Burn showcase this. Bruce is a virtuoso musician but he can make a 4 note bass line sound mesmeric too !

This album continues to grow on me. I liked it on first play, but I am noticing more and more subtle nuances and variations on a theme with every play. I am certainly a fan of La Vie SOus La Mer and this album, as highlighted in the title (not just metaphorically) is that this is a new exciting adventure, that it is a point of departure, but one that loves and cherishes it's roots and memories and will use that solid foundation to build upon and help to forge a new, different, but equally exciting future path.