Artist: Kayo Dot
Label: Hydra Head Records
Release: 2010
Length: 39:48
Rating: 4.3/5
In today’s oversaturated market, where pretty much every combination of random or deliberate sounds has been tried, it’s hard to find something original, something you haven’t heard yet, that also sounds good and is actually listenable. The monotony and sameness of repetitive music gave birth to avant-garde, prog and so on, but even that music has hit its limits. Or has it?
Kayo Dot are a band out to smash through every high-set limit of what music can do. Being different is the concept they stand for, but not just for its own sake – their music is simply excellent. Kayo Dot, with Toby Driver at the helm, play a kind of avant-garde metal with plenty of classical music and free jazz thrown in. Their uniqueness has won them a sizable fanbase in a short time, and it only grows with every new album. Toby Driver already said a few words about their latest album “Coyote” for RockLine (interview here), when he was in Ljubljana on Wednesday, May 12, 2010, touring with Secret Chiefs 3 at Kino Šiška (report here). “Coyote” is supposedly their most “personal” release yet, with Toby putting more of himself and his love of music into it than ever, which shows in the song structures, so similar to classical compositions it’s almost uncanny.
As you’d expect, “Coyote” is not your typical metal record. It’s an extremely dark, poetic, more drum-driven recording of a recital that opens up a completely new, uncharted world for the band. The album is dedicated to Yuko Sueta, a friend of the band who recently died tragically of cancer. That makes it a concept album, and the lyrics fit right in; Yuko wrote them herself, which adds even more weight and authenticity. These so-called recitals are backed only by Toby’s bass, trumpet and saxophone, with barely any guitars, and layered over everything is a free, avant-garde, borderline psychotic drum section.
The album is made up of five parts, which is also how many songs there are. The very first track, “Calonyction Girl”, starts out bleak as hell, with the words: “Help me … I’m disappearing …” The instrumental side does its share to build the dark, creepy atmosphere that soaks the whole opening song. In the next one, “Whisper Ineffable”, the instrumental side plays a much bigger role. The intro alone, with minor-key yet soft sounds of violin and trumpet, torn apart by searing bass lines, creates a charged atmosphere, and as the song unfolds, so does the concept, building up and intensifying on its dark saturation. Later the composition slides into free jazz forms, with Toby Driver’s vocal horrors on top. Kayo Dot have always been known for their darkness, but probably nobody expected it on this scale.
Next up is the two-part “Abyss Hinge”. The first part, “Sleeping Birds Sighing in Roscolux”, is the only fully instrumental one. The repeating rhythm section is backed by keyboards for the first time, laying down a bed for the second part of “Abyss Hinge”, “The Shrinking Armature”. Probably the calmest, most rhythmic and most “non-avant-garde” track on the album, it’s full of unusual bass sounds, all sorts of brass and Driver’s echoing voice, once again singing/reciting disconnected, gloomy thoughts. The rapidly shifting tempos of the individual sections have an incredible effect on how the listener takes in the whole concept.
The closing piece, “Cartogram Out Of Phrase”, is probably the most emotional creation Kayo Dot have made so far. In all its grandeur, it’s the perfect ending to the album. Over the course of the concept the mood has shifted a bit, “made peace” and in doing so cleared up, brightened. “Cartogram Out Of Phrase” reflects exactly that – a sort of resignation.
Kayo Dot’s “Coyote” is neither an easy nor a pleasant listen. It demands total commitment from the listener, repeated listens to the whole album and to individual parts, and more. But in the end the music and lyrics are heart-wrenching, emotional and almost depressing. Kayo Dot are certainly not for every listener, and that was clear from their debut. But “Coyote” is such a personal, such an emotional record that it should be a foundation and an inspiration for everyone who relies more on the power of lyrics and vocals than on the instrumental side. Of course, Driver and his bandmates are far from bad musicians, quite the opposite – the greatest mastery, the essence, hides right in their music, since through it they conjured up and portrayed human life and stirred genuine human emotions. “Coyote” is a drama, a tragedy, life itself, not just a pile of sounds and spoken words.
Line-up
Toby Driver – bass guitar, vocals
Mia Matsumiya – violin, guitar
David Bodie – percussion
Daniel Means – saxophone
Terran Olson – keyboards, saxophone
Tim Byrnes – trumpet
Production
Toby Driver/Kayo Dot
Tracklist
1. Calonyction Girl (7:59)
2. Whisper Ineffable (11:13)
3. Abyss Hinge 1: Sleeping Birds Sighing in Roscolux (3:45)
4. Abyss Hinge 2: The Shrinking Armature (13:40)
5. Cartogram Out Of Phase (3:11)
