Conor Fynes 'Gamma Knife' - Kayo Dot (7/10)

Since the days with maudlin of the Well over a decade ago, Toby Driver has been a consistent force in delivering some of the most powerful avant-garde music of the new millennium. With each album, this group of musicians has approached a different angle with their music, as if Toby and co. are browsing through a cosmic buffet, taking the flavours they fancy most, and making albums out of them. Especially in the case of Kayo Dot, I have felt that each album has a binding musical theme behind it. While 'Choirs Of The Eye' may have been defined by it's atmospheric surrealism, and 'Coyote' by is dreary jazz overtones, Kayo Dot's latest album 'Gamma Knife' is a little more difficult to pin down. Not that its sound is any more abstract than what has come before, but the music on this latest release is more diverse than I would have expected. For the sake of a bottom line, however: Kayo Dot has brought the metal back into their sound.

You might not guess that 'Gamma Knife' is a return to heavier times from its opening track 'Lethe'. The album opens on a very dreamy note, with bells chiming and Vangelis-like electronic orchestrations shimmering. This, and the titular closing piece, both show Kayo Dot in a very laid-back, even ambient frame. Even with Toby's signature brittle vocals, the music does more to capture a memorable feeling than to have particular ideas get stuck in the listener's head. When 'Lethe' closes, the more definitive traits of 'Gamma Knife' start to emerge. 'Rites Of Goetic Evocation' sounds like it could be a track from a black metal band, and it may as well be; the three songs that make up the body of 'Gamma Knife' are rife with growls, screams, blastbeats, and dissonance. The opening chords of 'Rites' sound more like late-era Deathspell Omega than anything else, as big a surprise to me as any, considering the band's music was being compared to Sigur Ros not too long ago.

It's not quite metal in the traditional sense, but Kayo Dot have certainly brought back a much heavier sound to their music. For one, the guitars are back, although the most distinguished instrument in the sound is the saxophone. Yes, the saxophone is there to beckon in the heaviest, darkest moments of 'Gamma Knife', and yes, it works. Take the albums defacto climax at the end of 'Ocellated God', for example. Overtop a fury of distorted screams and intense drums, the usually-jazzy sound of what I think is a saxophone layers over itself and repeats to create a very jarring and off-putting lick. Many more traditional metalheads may label this music as many things before metal, but it is undeniable that Kayo Dot has become heavier this time around.

Although Kayo Dot's latest is heavy, doomy, and metal-ly, I have also said that 'Gamma Knife' is more difficult to pin down than Kayo albums in the past. This is in large part due to the fact that there are five tracks here, and two of them are in stark contrast to the other three. There is certainly dynamic in earlier releases, but this time, the melancholic and soft is ostracized from the brutal and dark, as if it were a musical apartheid. It gives the album a cyclical sense to it, but my impression of 'Gamma Knife' is split in two. Be it dark or light, the music here is inventive, challenging, and often very powerful, with particular regards to the darker-edged material on the album. That being said, 'Gamma Knife' does not feel like a full album to me, at least not the way 'Choirs Of The Eye' or 'Coyote' did. For one, the album barely scrapes the half-hour mark, and leaves me wanting more than what the short length offers. I'm left feeling the same way I did about Radiohead's 'The King Of Limbs' from last year; though the musical quality in itself is quite high, there isn't enough meat on the bones to give it a lasting impression. In that sense, it is much like chicken wings. Had it been made at least ten minutes longer and given a little extra polish, 'Gamma Knife' would have almost certainly left me in total awe.

Warthur Kayo Dot are a splinter faction formed after the breakup of maudlin of the Well. Whereas their predecessor band made pretentious claims of using lucid dreaming to acquire music composed by ghosts in the astral plane, Kayo Dot disavowed this compositional method, and indeed the compositions do seem to be a bit more cohesive than on Bath/Leaving Your Body Map. However, their mixture of quiet and loud parts - the standard post-rock formula, really - doesn't quite work for me, mainly because I just can't bring myself to like the quiet parts, which seem rather bland and uninteresting. Still, it seems to work for some, so it might be worth giving a try - just don't feel bad if it turns out they're not to your tastes, because you're not alone.

Conor Fynes 'Choirs Of The Eye' - Kayo Dot (10/10)

For one reason or another, multi-instrumentalist and composer Toby Driver's flagship band maudlin of the Well fell apart, and from its ashes came its new incarnation, Kayo Dot. Although many of maudlin of the Well's familiar quirks tranlsated onto this new name, there was a decided change in the sound; a move towards a more experimental and avant-garde sound. To me, maudlin of the Well's sound was very curious and dreamy, like a nostalgic childhood summer. Of course, childhood does not last forever, and enter Kayo Dot, leading Toby Driver's music out of the proverbial childhood nostalgia and into a much darker and challenging adolescence, one that is much more ambiguous and even frightening. Kayo Dot's first album 'Choirs Of The Eye' therefore is something of a transition album for Toby Driver and company, featuring elements of both the carefree innocence of his earlier band, and the avant darkness of his future material with Kayo Dot. The result is a multi-faceted album that may very well be Driver's greatest achievement, but one of my favourite progressive albums ever.

Unlike maudlin of the Well- which featured comparatively accessible songwriting and a clear sense of direction- Kayo Dot's 'Choirs Of The Eye' changes the approach, leading to many moments that could feel aimless to someone who is not paying close attention the the ever-changing textures and build up. While some have described this album as post-metal, the majority of 'Choirs Of The Eye' relies on quietness rather than heaviness to get the mood across. This is an album which hits that sweet spot between variety and cohesion. There is a dreamy, otherwordly vibe to all of the music here, but the tone and dynamic is always changing. Each track encapsulates a variety of emotions. For example, the closing number 'The Antique' goes from crushingly heavy, sludgy metal to jazzy piano and muffled vocals that could have easily been plucked out of a Radiohead album. There are plenty of surprises here, and until the very end, like some sort of quiet, intellectual action movie, the listener is kept on their toes.

These compositions do not have the same cohesive feeling to them that maudlin of the Well's music had, so really besides the potential single 'A Pitcher Of Summer', these will not be tracks that get stuck in your head. Instead, you will probably find yourself getting hooked onto certain parts of each song, and it will only be after many intent listens where a listener is able to predict each of the twists and turns in this masterpiece. 'Choirs Of The Eye' can get very heavy, but these spurts of metal are usually only momentary; much of the album instead leans towards mellw tones and textures; perhaps I may use the term 'avant-post rock'? The guitars are filled with echoes and reverb to rattle around in the listener's head, but the joys of the performance here are really about the non-typical instrumentation. Above all, violinist Mia Matsumiya's performance here is jaw-dropping, taking any violin arrangement here and making the strings sing with beauty. Another fairly strange aspect of Kayo Dot's sound is Toby Driver's voice, specifically his wide range of styles that he employs. Throughout the album, a listener will hear him go from mellow, mid-register singing, spoken word poetry, and soft falsetto, to choatic howls and screams. Often, all of this will be heard within the course of one song. In his work with maudlin of the Well, I was unsure whether or not I considered him to be a good or bad singer, but Kayo Dot has set me straight on the matter; although his voice does not have a great technical skill to it, he is able to express himself with great diversity, and pulls off most of what he tries quite impressively.

'Choirs Of The Eye' is one of those albums that listeners will take alot of time to wrap their heads around, although some of those coming off of a maudlin of the Well binge may be initially put off by the change in pace and style. After giving this many nights of engaged listening and awe, I could safely say that 'Choirs Of The Eye' is the most impressive, exciting thing that Toby Driver and co. have done to date; a sweeping epic that soothes, excites, and challenges. A masterpiece.

Any Colour You Like I've been putting off reviewing this album for too long now. Partly because I was still unsure about how I felt about it, but also because it never really struck me with any strong opinions. However, I feel necessary to at least mention what this release means to me. So bare with me here folks, this might not make much sense!

Panned by some for the 'overlong' and 'repetitive dross' that consists of the final two movements, one could be forgiven for thinking this was just pretentious navel gazing masquerading as art. However 'Dowsing' (as I shall refer to it, for brevity's sake) is definitely not an album to hastily rush into, nor one you can critique without attempting to understand it's scope. The first three tracks follow roughly in a similar style from Kayo Dot's debut, that is, neo-classical, dreamy ambient music with a penchant for dissonant slabs of metal and anguished wails. However the final two movements are an altogether different beast. '___On Limpid Form' is relatively 'normal' (heh, that's Kayo Dot normal) for five or six minutes, before we are treated to the sonic equivalent of having a nail hammered into your head. Now call me a hedonist or sadist or whatever, but I love the progression of this 'drone' movement. Yes it's long, but at the end of it, you are drained, purged and tired. Whether that's your cup of tea or not, well I can't answer that for you. Following is 'Amaranth the Peddler', one of the more minimalist Kayo Dot compositions. If the former movement tires you, the latter should be it's antithesis. I especially love the percussion and solitary flourishes in this movement. Few tracks have ever said so much by doing so little. In conclusion, the aura, ambiance and chaotic nature of 'Dowsing' should not scare any hardy Toby Driver veterans. However, it tries hard to eschew the listener thematically and musically. Therefore those who can see past the seemingly inane and desolate nature of the music are apt to be richly rewarded.

This is not to say that 'Dowsing' is flawless, far from it. It's one thing to understand and enjoy the challenge it poses, it's another thing to enjoy it unconditionally. I can't always enjoy this album, but in the right context, it's highly pleasurable. Just don't play it too loudly around people who may not share your sentiments, they may not appreciate it.

Triceratopsoil The glorious first offering by Toby Driver's post-maudlin band Kayo Dot, Choirs of the Eye is a largely emotional and powerful album. Driver evokes feelings of despair, hatred, and insanity (especially insanity) via both the lyrics and music. There is a mixture of calm, beautiful soft parts, angry heavy parts, and straight-up insane noise which seems to lack any structure at all. The songs are simultaneously distinct and lacking boundaries. Toby Driver's compositions reach beyond the mind into the very depths of the soul, if one believes in such a thing.

An entirely flawless piece of perfection, and one of the best albums of all time, in any genre.