“Nuclear Fusion” can be described as groovy, dark and intricate. The song has some of the most peculiar features of any song on Flying Microtonal Banana. Slowed down parts appear throughout while the drums go from playing in sync with each other to splitting up for the choruses, the beat bouncing back and forth in stereo. The riffs are layered with hammer-ons and rhythmic palm muting throughout, creating a fluid and infectious swing. The lyrics are also layered with meaning. The song starts by focusing on the stars in the sky before looking at them at an atomic level. Nuclear fusion is the process of atomic nuclei combining to create one source which exerts a massive amount of energy. This process is how stars such as our Sun produce all their energy. The second verse describes someone dying in the ocean only for their spirit to travel upwards through the cosmic radiation, becoming one with the atoms that created the stars. The chorus points out this connection by arguing that life is intrinsically tied to the universe and thereby the atoms in it, so much so that we’re “essentially one being.” We’re all the products of nuclear fusion.
The song was played by Ambrose (harmonica), Cavs (drums/bongo), Joey (guitar) and Stu (guitar/bass/synthesizer/vocals). It was released as a single on December 21st, 2016 and was included on Flying Microtonal Banana on February 24th, 2017.
The first known performance of “Nuclear Fusion” was on 2017-1-21 at The Meadow in Singapore. It was played at least five other times before the release of Flying Microtonal Banana. Following February 2017, “Nuclear Fusion” became a commonly played track all the way through 2018. In 2019 the song was played a bit less but remained in the band’s roster. While not played in 2020, it returned on 2021-02-24 with two changes. With Eric’s departure, the track’s rhythm was left to Cavs who played it straight, unlike the split beat on the original.
Outside of this change, Joey’s parts were altered. Up to this point Joey throat-sang the pitched down phrase at the beginning of the track (sometimes with pitch shifting), but due to the harsh nature of throat singing, decided that other members of the band should give it a shot to spice things up. The first one picked by Joey was Cavs, who attempted to sing it through his hi-hat mic, though it either didn’t happen or wasn’t audible. The following two shows didn’t feature any vocals from the band for that section and instead went straight to Lucas’ bass part (see 2021-03-31 for a good example). The band gave it another shot on 2021-04-22 when Joey picked Ambrose to do the part, leading to a shrill scream of the title. Cook did the following performance on 2021-04-23, while Joey reprised his part for Microtonal Night on 2021-12-21. Since then the role has changed in each city, ranging from band members (2022-10-24) to fans in the audience (2023-06-11).
In a live setting the song is played close to the record, but is missing a few elements such as the post chorus fill at 1:53 (replaced with the simpler fill from 3:04), the bass section at 3:22 as well as the pitched-down outro.