Kayo Dot

Nearly two years ago, Kayo Dot's Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya visited Denver with their side project Tartar Lamb, which was inspired by composer Morton Feldman and also nodded to Steve Reich. Their fondness for modern classical is also evident at times in Kayo Dot, especially on the relatively calm...

By Jon Solomon

October 2, 2008

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Nearly two years ago, Kayo Dot's Toby Driver and Mia Matsumiya visited Denver with their side project Tartar Lamb, which was inspired by composer Morton Feldman and also nodded to Steve Reich. Their fondness for modern classical is also evident at times in Kayo Dot, especially on the relatively calm chamber interludes between thick washes of guitar distortion. It's a game of extremes for this sextet. A tune might start off with dark and brooding layers of overdriven guitars but then dissolve into a minute of tranquility before ramping back into the darkness. While the outfit has toured with a trumpeter and clarinetist on previous tours, this time around it'll bring along three woodwind players who double on other instruments. The band's most recent album, Blue Lambency Downward, is heavy with clarinets, saxes and flutes, whereas its previous two albums, 2003's Choirs of the Eye and 2006's Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue, focused more on Driver's guitar and Matsumiya's violin playing.

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