DOWSING ANEMONE WITH COPPER TONGUE

There are many artists who make music that successfully or unsuccessfully strives to expand upon or replicate the generally accepted standards of quality in music. In fact, I would say the great, great majority of artists from the past and present have or have had this ambition (and, don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing.) Even the most avant-garde band is typically experimental only in its oblique approach towards this overarching goal. I believe this type of music is the most debated and organized--everyone has a different idea of how well this goal has been reached.

Then there are the artists who make such personal music that the goal itself is irrelevant, and debate over its quality is generally ignored. You either 'feel' this music or you do not, and neither option says anything about the sophistication of your taste. There are a few albums that I think fit into this category, for example: Drudkh's Autumn Auroura, Agalloch's Pale Folklore, Univers Zero's Heresie, King Crimson's Red, Magma's MDK.

Kayo Dot are the latter. And I most definitely buy into it.

Dowsing Anemone is, in my opinion, the greatest achievement of modern music and the greatest synthesis of culture from Claude Debussy to The Beatles. The music is truly fearless: it does not care who it's audience is or how it feels, it knows how certain things will be thought of and it executes them without a second thought. The music is a constant dichotomy in equilibrium: beauty and pain in perfect balance (however pretentious that sounds). It is paced as fearlessly as it is constructed. Space is used as an instrument in and of itself, repetition a form of development. The lyrics are as poetic as the music, engineering the language to engender a completely abstract emotional response; it doesn't communicate any particular message, just an aesthetic.

Dowsing Anemone is filled with music that breathes and is sentient like an inanimate object in a Murakami novel. Being a sort of person in and of itself, the music can either be a friend to you or an enemy (hence my belief that Kayo Dot is not something you can be middle-ground on). Regardless, it is necessary you at least listen to it once. As for me, this album embodies the concept of a five-star album, and that's what I'll give it.