Fruition plays free show at Ford Amphitheater Tuesday

Fruition has settled into the meaning of its name. The Oregon-based musicians first realized they delivered a harmonious vocal blend while busking on the streets of Portland, and since then, the band has opened shows for the Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass and Jack Johnson, along with playing festivals like Telluride Bluegrass, Bonnaroo and DelFest. Tuesday, they play a free show at Ford Amphitheater.

“We’ve settled in, in a way,” said vocalist and mandolin and guitar player Mimi Naja, talking about how busking focused on “how loud and fast you could go to draw attention. Now, we just feel settled in as a unit — that sounds like we’re more confident, but it’s really that we’re more comfortable.”

The Americana-based band draws influences from both acoustic music and rock ‘n’ roll and includes harmonica, piano, mandolin and banjo rounding out bass, drums and guitars — both electric and acoustic.

“Americana is the umbrella that envelops folk, country, soul and blues,” Naja said. “I still play mandolin and use the speed of bluegrass when we want speed and volume, but I’m leaning more toward the way John Prine would use a mandolin.”

Last year, the band released “Live, Vol. 1” from a show in Boise, Idaho, and the artists are just putting the final touches on a new album at eTown Hall in Boulder. Though Naja can’t say much about the project yet, she did say the band will test drive some of the newer songs, without ruining any surprises.

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Fruition’s last studio album, 2019’s “Wild as the Night,” portrayed dark and weak moments, fused with the beauty of uplifting spirits and letting go.

“I’ve just always hoped that people relate to the music, whether it’s a certain chord movement that lifts their spirit or comforts their sorrow, or a lyric that speaks to them like it was written for them,” said vocalist, rhythm guitarist and pianist Kellen Asebroek. “This music comes from places of vulnerability, and I hope people can take their guard down a little while resonating with it.”

Since the beginning of her songwriting journey, Naja’s lyrics have always revolved around healing, but her skill makes it applicable to others. She said the pandemic helped her slow down and embark on “fresher healing journeys (and) access new, honest stuff, but also step outside myself and peer into other people’s stories.”

“Something that has always tied our variable styles together is the honesty in the songwriting, the attention paid toward what is genuinely and deeply catchy, not superficially so,” Asebroek said.

Vocal harmonies have also unified the band; as Naja says, they’re the heartbeat of Fruition. Yet, they’ve been playing around with when to belt out the harmonies and when to hold back.

“While we know it’s our calling card and the most powerful tool we have, the thing about a powerful tool is knowing when to wield it,” she said. “They’re still present, but just a little more sparse.”

Nevertheless, at the core of Fruition lies the energy of five solid musicians, and friends.

“The Fruition sound has always been about being more than the sum of our parts,” Asebroek said.