GiggySound

Kayo Dot will be a name quite familiar to those fond of avant garde music. Formed just over ten years ago around the creative axis of Toby Driver and out of the ashes of another brazenly experimental act, Maudlin of the Well, Kayo Dot has established a catalogue that has been lavished with both acclaim and complaint related to their seemingly indefinable nature. The latter would appear to emanate from those who feel that creativity should take place within clearly defined boundaries, with the great density of the band’s work proving too much to digest for some, even leading to the misguided claim in some instances that Kayo Dot are a meandering “jam band.” Perhaps those naysayers will be placated by the illusions on Kayo Dot’s most recent release through The Flenser, Coffins on Io. It may go against the grain to suggest that there have always been clear themes and purpose to the band’s expression across entire albums. It just takes greater concentration to figure out, rather than in the case of something that is presented so relatively sparsely. The nuances, shifts, and ideas are quite often just more plentiful than what one might be accustomed to. Deriding something simply because it isn’t “easy” speaks more to the writer than of anything (supposedly) transgressive wrought by the artist.

In trying to bring so many things together in a cohesive form, Kayo Dot enters a slipstream of smoothness unlike ever before on Coffins on Io. Departing the earthbound nature of the album’s predecessor, Hubardo, Coffins aims for an astral and futuristic feel via a languid bloodstream of synthesis. Samplers, keys, and synthetic beats course throughout each song, providing the atmospheric foundation for the other instruments to play their roles upon with great skill. The performances melt with beauty and sinister undertones into one another, like spectacular emissions of toxic lava and plumes of unearthly humours. Amongst them all, one element stands out to define the album with its greatness.

Driver’s vocals are resplendent, rife with darkness and detail, shifting with deft subtlety through the sensual and mournful emotion that defines the album’s visions of bloody murder and destructive behavior in a dystopian future. A tortured hybrid of suave neuromantics, 80s darkwave, and Overlord Svithjod on In The Woods… Omnio, Driver enmeshes the psychological isolation of a killer within cosmic reflection. The lyrics express thoughts of journeys through solitude, the destruction of oneself and others, across vast and expansive space. It is as compelling a vocal performance as this reviewer has heard in years.

Instrumentally, the density remains high yet with Kayo Dot’s clearest direction to date. Even the shorter tracks feel epic, with their polyrhythmic shifts, metamorphosing from rapid gear changes into lengthy hypnotic loops, then back again. A marriage of science fiction and film noir, futuristic and cavernous ambience transforms into hazy moments of eroticism and abrasive and demented outbursts of brutality. The influences of 80s darkwave are, as with the vocals, very strong amidst the myriad other influences that one should expect from any record by Kayo Dot.

The bar is set incredibly high by the opener, ‘The Mortality of Doves’ (the longest track of the album), with all of the aforementioned themes and elements established and building to a glassy black obsidian climax. “My cries are the echoes of a long-lost suicide, an angel bleeding out, a dove that has died.” Each following track explores different musical territory whilst maintaining devotion to the album’s overarching atmosphere and concept, before closing with the idyllically gloomy ‘Spirit Photography.’ Driver’s vocals close the album at their peak, each line sung with an emotion, character, and distinctive detail and technique that are astonishing.

Coffins on Io is an outstanding work by a daring and divisive musical treasure. It demands being listened to in its entirety, continuously revealing details and emotions within the densely packed compositions with each play. Even with their best record yet, it is simply too much to expect near unanimous love. Thankfully for those who are exhilarated by music that keeps the listener on their toes, it’s not in Kayo Dot’s nature to seek out those types of dreams. The ones they share with us are far, far superior.