Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye
http://www.diskunion.co.jp/tzadik/image/TZ-7092.jpg
Tracklist:
1. Marathon - 10:13
2. A Pitcher of Summer - 5:50
3. The Manifold Curiosity - 14:30
4. Wayfarer - 10:43
5. The Antique - 14:41
Kayo Dot are hard to classify into a genre... They used to be known as maudlin of the Well, an avant-garde/prog metal band. Now they've changed their name to Kayo Dot, and focused more on the composed songwritting style and experimentation, and less on the metal. Besides the usual rock instruments, they also use stuff like violin, cello, trumpet, clarinet, flute, etc, and not just here and there, but throughout most of the album. They also have some electronic effects stuff (not to be confused with electronica) mixed in. They have a big "art-fa
g" vibe to them (no offense intended by the term, and I love the art-fa
g-ness of the band). They use lots of overdubbing for a nice dense sound. They supposedly used more that 100 tracks for some of it. Good thing the production is excellent, otherwise that could make it sound terrible.
I can't really compare them to any band, but you
might like them if you like (and these are actually a pretty big stretch): Pink Floyd, Isis, Neurosis, Godspeed You Black Emperor!... It's hard to come up with good comparisons...
To try to give a better description, here are some notable parts of each song:
1.
Marathon
-The opening, with noisy sound effects and echoing vocals over distorted guitars played almost unrhythmically
-The mellow second half, which has lots of what I assume are keyboards and electronic effects, and an ending with recited poetry, the last few lines of which are said without any music behind it
2.
A Pitcher of Summer
-Has some weird vocal harmonies in the later parts of the song
3.
The Manifold Curiosity (my favorite song)
-An almost classical beginning, that transitions into gentle strumming of an acoustic with vocals that have a heavy electronic effect on them
-A section with more recited poetry, this time with 2 different poems overdubbed over each other but with the same rhythm
-The last 5 minutes, where the metal section of this song finally kicks in and slowly increases in tempo to an intense climax
4.
Wayfarer
-My mind is blank, I can't think of anything specific... Um, the most violin-y song...
5.
The Antique
-Starts of with slow, random sounding strumming that slowly builds into the rest of the song (at concerts, people have been known to mistake it for just that, random strumming and not an actual song until they slowly realize and stop talking to each other)
The only problem I have with the album is the not-so-great softer singing... Which kind of pissed me off, because I know he can sing better. Oh well, small price to pay for what is otherwise one of my all-time favorite albums.
I personally give it a 5/5, but based on the rating scale here, more like a 4/5.
