Blue Lambency Downward
The more we write these things, the more we begin to think that words simply don’t suffice. It’s like, first Pyramids, then Torche, and now this: Back-to-back-to-back WTF?s. We were thinking about how we should describe Blue Lambency Downward, and all kinds of phrases popped up—phrases like “a sonic experience unlike any other,” “Kayo Dot send irreverent compositional colors and supreme tonal iridescence bursting through the underground’s monotonous black & white” or “Kayo Dot levy a jazz-tinged sadness upon experimental rock’s triumphalist tendencies”—phrases sullied by overuse, vague incompatibility and the fact that if you’re reading this with even a passing interest, the word “jazz” probably bums you out. And yet multi-instrumentalists Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya lull you into a dream state with a small cavalcade of instrumentation, plying an almost noir-ish sensibility at once moody and contemplative, bristling and demure. With a history that includes avant-metallurgists Maudlin Of The Well (Driver was the band’s, uh, driving force), John Zorn’s Tzadik Records (2003’s Choirs Of The Eye), Robotic Empire (2006’s Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue), and instruction from renowned jazz musician Dr. Yusef Lateef, Kayo Dot have delivered an unclassifiable masterpiece.
Third album from symphonic prog-metal outfit finds the band pared down to just two primary members-- Mia Matsumiya on strings and vocals and ex-Maudlin of the Well member Toby Driver on guitars, strings, reeds, and vocals-- but their sound is just as huge and melodramatic.
Kayo Dot - Blue Lambency Downward review: Toby Driver and his endless cast of extras have crafted a record that easily aligns itself with the current avant garde scene in New York while still retaining the Kayo Dot touch.