The Borderless Puzzle is a rising star on the northeast live music scene. The heavily-touring band has grown a reputation as distinct, energetic, and profound force in a relatively short amount of time. The four members take on any style of music, ranging from short songs with thick vocal harmonies and catchy hooks, to wordless, intricately composed, and improvisation-heavy juggernauts.
As if thinking with a single mind, The Borderless Puzzle communicates effortlessly on stage. Through years of playing with and complementing each other, guitarists Joe Stile and Jason Fisher have mastered the art of listening. Joe uses self-sampling and loops to layer ambient, trance, and psychedelic flavors onto an otherwise solid layer of rock. Jason brings musically educated sophistication and articulate, purposeful melodies and solos to writing and performance. Together, they account for much more sonic depth and dynamics than two people should legally be allowed.
Bass player Josh Clary delivers a strong backbone of danceable rhythm and interesting counter-melody. Playing fretless and fretted basses, he exposes subtleties of reggae, fusion, funk, and psychedelic rock in both his playing and his writing. Drummer Eric Brannon energizes the songs with mixtures of Latin jazz, hip-hop, rock, and electronic beats. He takes advantage of his incredible endurance and energy, and his creativity precludes dull moments. All four band members sing, often tackling complex vocal arrangements and even entire a cappella songs.
The Borderless Puzzle brews songs full of tension and release, dynamic emotions, meaningful lyrics, and sublime hypnosis. These are extremely refreshing notions, especially in a time of formulaic composition and recycled melody lines. Their music is captivating, making many dance and some stare, transfixed. Musicality, strong harmonies, improvisation, and complex composition are the hallmarks of their performance.
The Borderless Puzzle. Let the words sink in. Listen to the band's intertwining melodies and mesmerizing rhythms. A more suitable name for these four musicians will never exist. Each original song pieces together thoughtful concepts, perfectly blurring the lines that would exist where one idea meets the next.
Among many, many others, we are influenced by and sound like an amalgamation of Phish, Ween, Grant Green, Primus, Miles Davis, Al Green, Madeski, Martin and Wood, Lee Perry, The Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, Trio Mocato, The Grateful Dead, Mellow, Particle, Frank Zappa, Moe, Tortoise, and Stevie Wonder.
