Asymmetric Universe guitarist Federico Vese grew up playing rock and metal riffs before contorting his fingers through the sophisticated chord palates and gonzo, eight-string fusion runs of his band’s new single Don’t Go Too Early.
It was the opposite route for his brother, six-string bassist Nicolò, who came up studying jazz style beneath Italian slapper Federico Malaman before thwacking himself toward a djent-messed percussive frenzy. The stylistic push-and-pull between the Turin-based duo, however, is exactly what brings Asymmetric Universe into perfect balance.
“The project was meant to present a lot of interplay between us,” older brother Federico says of the dynamic, which officially fused in 2018.
Across a pair of lushly composed, mind-bogglingly dexterous early EPs, that back-and-forth gave Federico grace to ride a comet’s tail of melodic legatos and sweep-tapped finger work, while Nicolò’s Victor Wooten-inspired double-thumbing likewise morphs toward tastefully speed-blurred bass runs.
Within Kaleidoscope, from 2023’s The Sun Would Disappear As I Imagined All the Stars, they also deliver a staggeringly unified, 45-second shakeup of clean-driven jazz-shred deftness. While supremely on-point, Asymmetric Universe’s bassist was slightly intimidated to be in lock-step with his brother on that one. “I have problems with chromaticism,” Nicolò says, adding of his sibling’s blisteringly successive note selection, “He’s challenged me with his vocabulary.”
As the group’s first single for prog hub InsideOut Music – which teases an eventual debut full-length – Don’t Go Too Early naturally marks a new phase for the band. For Federico’s part, the track spotlights his recently acquired custom SiC Raw 8 guitar with fanned frets and a “fake-bucker” pickup at the bridge – essentially two Bare Knuckle Trilogy single coils stitched together to produce a spanky and screaming “post-Strat” sound.
The guitarist adds that the song takes the duo in a heavier direction. While not blotting out their jazz-smoothed tendencies, it begins with decadently dissonant arpeggiating, and the grotesquely hammered-down djent-metal backend sounds like both brothers’ guitar necks are bowing to the point of breakage.
It’s wonderfully ludicrous in its extremism, though Nicolò mercifully lets the piece breathe in the mid-section via a supple slow-crawl of low-end quarter notes – at least until his sibling stirs up the hornet’s nest again.
• GUITARS SiC Instruments Raw 8 Custom (Federico); Mayones Comodous 6 (Nicolò)
• AMPS/EFFECTS Fractal Axe-Fx II (Federico); Line 6 Helix (Nicolò)
• STRINGS D’Addario NYXL (Federico); DR Strings (Nicolò)
“I actually improvised every note under [Federico’s] solo, emphasizing the most important parts, and then staying in the back during the fastest parts,” Nicolò says. “For example, when he starts with that long legato phrase, I just play the tonics. I leave him the space he needs.”
The Vese brothers call their latest single a “journey,” which seems fitting. Federico has composed video game music for action-adventure RPGs, while the pair also collaborated on music that now plays at Italian theme park Mirabilandia. Now, with their latest, they’ve delivered a jazz-fusion thrill ride like no other.
