STAINED GLASS

This EP is a return to the kind of chamber sounds available on KAYO DOT's first album. They had elements of these sounds recur on all of their albums, but CHOIRS OF THE EYE is closest to the sonic voice of this album. While this may be viewed as retreading old ground, they really come at it from a good place; only 20 minutes of music, so no big return to something they've done, and they spruce it up with new tricks they've learned that make sense. That is a big thing to emphasize here: While this sounds a lot like older Kayo Dot, there are some rather different bits, like Gregorian chanting, that fit perfectly. It doesn't call upon the black metal influences present on "The Manifold Curiosity" or any of their death metal elements, sticking to a kind of chamber, near-orchestral approach to rock. This offers a great comment and revision on their earlier sound, offering enough subtle tweaks to say essentially, "This is how our first album should have sounded to be more like Kayo Dot and less like MAUDLIN OF THE WELL," without denigrating what they were commenting on.

My only complaint is one that is similar to my complaints of BLUE LAMBENCY DOWNWARD, and that is the meandering nature of the track. Sometimes when they do this, it works perfectly and sweeps me away, but this time it felt a little bit like underdevelopment at times. It wasn't a huge detraction, and it's not like the music stops being compelling for any huge portion of time, but it did affect things enough to make this not exactly perfect. It is still very, very good, though, and it must be said that, like all Kayo Dot albums, the production is wonderful. There are a lot of instruments here, but they all breathe and have their own space. We've all heard what the original mixes of LIXARD by KING CRIMSON were like, so we know what it sounds like when too many instruments crowd a mix, but despite the near-pit orchestra level of instruments going on here, the sound never gets overwhelmed. This is more amazing than you probably think it is.