Kayo Dot - Coyote

Full disclosure: I’m friends with some of the dudes in Kayo Dot. Not their ever-present principals (Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya), but two significant contributors and current full-time band members, Terran Olson and Tim Byrnes. The latter two, both fantastic composers in their own right, are mostly lending their instrumental prowess to this record, on sax/keyboards and trumpet, respectively. Toby Driver has always been the compositional force behind Kayo Dot, and I don’t know Mr. Driver personally.

I have, however, followed his band for quite some time. Until now, I have kept an unfirm stance on Kayo Dot’s music. On one hand, their compositional approach is so evolved, their ability to conjure texture and novel sonic juxtapositions so inspiring, I thought they might spearhead a musical revolution. On the other hand, I’m fairly certain why they haven’t yet done so. There’s a visceral quality lacking in their music that keeps their innovations from truly taking flight. A lack of dumb, raw heart is the reason why the smartest musicians on the planet haven’t necessarily made the best music. Kayo Dot’s ambition might be more intriguing than their actual music. But their ambition is so intriguing, I’m still following the plot. I keep waiting for the moment when they tip the scales from brains to heart.

Coyote (Hydra Head, 2010) is that moment. Taking cues from ’80s new wave/post-punk, ’70s fusion, and, as always, 20th century avant-garde chamber music, Kayo Dot forge their most focused and moving record partly by relieving themselves of options. Instrumentally, they’ve pared down, primarily utilizing an underwater-sounding chorused bass, gritty moaning violin, clarion call horn lines, and the psychedelic textures of granular synthesis. The sound is dreamy and hallucinatory. Remind me again why they’re on Hydra Head and tour with metal bands? Well, drummer David Bodie is the most metal thing about them, driving a heavy groove and tumbling, on-the-mark fills. A looser player would untether this music; his metal feel animates its ethereal architecture.

Kayo Dot have stepped up their game lyrically as well. A friend’s chronicle of her slide into terminal illness informs Coyote‘s narrative. Whereas previous records found Driver illustrating impenetrably abstract scenarios, music and words now transport, aware of their destination. It’s not glib, either. This is a thoughtful attempt at rendering bleak emotions into large-scale music. Textures and juxtapositions are at last put to noble use, functioning as a kind of psychic foley. It utterly haunts.

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