COYOTE

A fabulous, exquisite progressive fiery is this 2010 effort by Kayo Dot entitled "Coyote": by mastering their own lucidness at opening new realms for authentic avant-garde rock and managing to evolve in consistent yet surprising ways, we have witnessed Kayo Dot starting as a post-metal unit and presently becoming a genuine chamber-rock ensemble without losing an inch of musical coherence along the road. It's all about thinking and writing in terms of atmospheres and textures within an eclectic musical framework that feels simultaneously friendly to the power of experimental metal, the emotional darkness of post- rock, the agile colorfulness of free-jazz, the inscrutable challenges of post-modern chamber and the somber intelligence of RIO. In their previous release "Blue Lambency Downward", Driver, Matsumiya & co. were particularly preoccupied with enhancing the introspective vibe of post-rock as a main focus; now, based on the inspiration drawn from the late writer/filmmaker Yuko Sueta's poems about mortality, longing and transcendence, the RIO element happens to be the dominant one. The instrumental developments comprised in all tracks provide a wide room for the brass items to shine within the overall structures, which means that Mia's violin is not as featured here as it was in earlier albums (or even in Maudlin Of The Well's 2009 release, were she was just a very special guest). Anyway, she also provides some input on occasional guitar interventions, while the band's guiding brain Toby Driver cuts down his usually busy work to the bass guitarist's role (besides singing). The album's key factor is the way that the trumpet, saxes and violin elaborate tense orchestrations and dense moods, at times leaving room for some exciting organ solos that shake the ground up and down. Well, going for the album's tracks themselves, we'll start with the opener 'Calonyction Girl', which installs a grayish dynamics where tension and passion melt fluidly. Driver's singing is urgent and a bit distant as well, and had it not been present, the educated listener would have mistaken this KD piece for one written by Univers Zero or Vortex. The global framework's claustrophobic mood is quite effective at displaying emotional turmoil. A few seconds before the 5 minute mark, the framework lights up a little bit, but the psychological thunderstorm remains intact all the way to the end. 'Whisper Ineffable' is the album's first epic, and as such, it is in charge of bringing up occasions of bombast for the ensemble. The 3 minute long prelude installs an aura of expectation: Byrnes' trumpet delivers robust emotions and fills the whole center stage before the drum kit enters and states a solid scheme for the band. What happens next is a lovely mixture of dreamy post-rock and eerie avant-jazz augmented with spacey psychedelic ambiences. Toby Driver seems like he's drowning in a mental trance while he's delivering his lines. At the 7 minute mark, the track shifts to a series of languid pulsations that conveniently prepare the arrival of the orchestral code, very much on a RIO- like note. The first section of 'Abyss', 'Sleeping Birds Sighing in Roscolux', shows the first moments of real extroversion in the album, featuring semi-tribal drumming, an exciting organ solo and an undercurrent industrial ambience. The second section of 'Abyss', 'The Shrinking Armature', incarnates the album's other epic, and may I add that it is arguably its definitive highlight. The first 4 ½ is a sublime, majestic exercise on power and refinement that is very reminiscent of Univers Zero's classic legacy (first 3 albums). When the brief sung sections emerges, the basic sonority shifts toward a post-rock thing wrapped in cosmic airs of crepuscular desperation. It won't take long before the sense of tension returns, which is when the dissonant web of violin, organ, trumpet and sax build a dark landscape on the shoulders of Bodies muscular percussive architecture. Perhaps this is his best performance in the whole album: his impressive dynamics becomes the essential nucleus for the band as a whole. Tension reins supreme and cannot pass unnoticed, but it does in a partially patent fashion: the fact is that part of this tension remains a bit subdued all throughout this instrumental journey, and this is undisputed proof of the particular musical intelligence that we have come to expect from any KD album. For its last 1 ½ minutes, the track creates a cleverly gradual descent as if portraying something that is fading away (or growing apart) slowly. The last song, 'Cartogram Out Of Phase', is an elegiac song full of soft sadness and soft melancholy delivered on a subtle bluesy pace. Perhaps some (like me) would have loved it if this track had been just a bit longer, but again, that is something that might as well be applied to some other track in the album. Why isn't this album longer than its 40 minute span? Wishful thinking like this may be OK, but all in all, it shouldn't fog our minds to keep us blind about its amazing brilliance. Certainly, "Coyote" is yet another manifestation of musical greatness, which means that Kayo Dot remains a big name in the contemporary avant-rock area. IMHO, this is their best release so far.