Melbourne Progressive Instrumental trio THE OMNIFIC - featuring the unique line-up of two bass players and a drummer - will release their long-awaited debut LP "Escapades," which was released on October 8th, 2021, via Wild Thing Records. The album contains eleven tracks. "Antecedent" leads off the album. It opens with dual bass guitars dancing all about. I love the tone here...it is bossy and dominant, yet the music is free flowing and easy on the ears. It shifts many times from there, in and out of the shadows, with a couple different techniques. I love it when the bass ventures into the deep.

Segueing into "Wax & Wane," they play with the meter quite a bit, with heavy, slapped notes and some work that ventures into new territory. The main melody of the song comes through around the half-way mark, and it is indeed charming. "The Labyrinth Chronicles" opens with piano notes and a swinging sound. Funk comes in just after the half-way mark with a bass line that oozes fun, and then darker tones take the song to completion. "Scurryfunge" is a shorter song that begins with heavy bass slaps and some background ambiance in support. When the bass dives into the lower register, it rattles inside your ribcage.

"Merlin's Id" is the longest on the album, beginning with ambiguous tones and some solemn bass work. Like the infamous wizard, it is shrouded in mystery and secrets. It spends some time deeper in thought before coming alive again towards the end. "Matai" features the prettier side of the bass guitar, a side we don't often get to hear...and my, how pretty it is. It then begins a slow climb and picks up with meter changes that are almost too quick for the human ear to pick up on, ending on those charming notes from the beginning. "Fountainhead" opens with a deeper and perhaps angrier sound, but those ambient melodies underneath and very beautiful. They let the melodies flow, and flow they do. Segueing into "Dwam," the melodies continue, alluring and emotional. Let your worries get carried away.

"Ne Plus Ultra" carries that melody forward with the thwacking of bass guitar notes and displays of fine musicianship. Thick into the album at this point, the poignant nature of what they are building becomes more evident. The title track is a quick one-minute of very subdued sounds. "Posterity" closes the album, beginning with heavy bass thuds and some drum accents. Let the deep sound slowly seep in, along with some really fanciful piano work. The bass picks up and heads down the road, sprinting towards its destination, ending on a piano note run.

I know what you're thinking...how much music can really be created by two bass players and a drummer? Well, the proof is in the pudding as they say. Fack and Peterson-Stewart create so many different sounds from a myriad of techniques on the bass guitar and prove that it's time to celebrate the bass guitar as a superior instrument, that can offer just as much as its six-strong counterpart. Lematua is no slacker on the kit either. Funky, jazzy, bluesy, and everything in between, this album will get you thinking about the bass guitar in ways you could never imagine.