Kayo Dot - Passing the River

Lyrics:

Nameless, a boy upon a rough boat
He makes his way downstream under the candles of the stars
The great chandeliers of the mansion
The moon in her fullness, she waltzes across the singing surface
As animals and insects sleep peacefully in their places
Water passes softly by
Drifting up from silent wells like memories in meditation

Count his bones, the boat drifted as a young leaf fallen
Hapless and helpless, and he blessed the mossy stones

A night and a day of longing is as nothing, as a shell cast into
The raging sea is forgotten
A star swallowed up in the void that pulses
A life expired that never blossoms

The music is his, the boy in his trance
He wrote it across the mist and the rapids
And it carried him away from the forest
And it carried him away
He gave himself to the river
And it carried him away

HUBARDO is the seventh studio album by veteran avant-metal maestros, KAYO DOT. Produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn0))), Master Musicians of Bukkake, etc.), and with a running time of almost 100 minutes, the music follows an epic and heartbreaking narrative of a meteor falling to Earth and its enchantment and alchemical transformation of a lonely poet.

HUBARDO, meaning "lantern" or "lamp" in the magickal language of Enochian, marks the band's tenth anniversary. As such, it features aspects of all the shades of KAYO DOT from the past decade, including some that even hearken back to the band's former identity, the progressive MAUDLIN OF THE WELL, such as the album's opening: a stark and disturbing guest vocal appearance by MOTW screamer Jason Byron - his first recorded appearance since 2001.

From weird metal to beautiful post-rock, from demented ballads to tripped-out 70s fusion, this double-album has it all. With HUBARDO, KAYO DOT have crafted an enormous masterpiece of 21st-century progressive music.
credits
released 01 September 2013
Toby Driver - bass, synths, piano, rhodes, organ, vocals, percussion. Ron Varod - guitars. Keith Abrams - drums. Daniel Means - tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet. Terran Olson - flute, alto sax, piano, organ, and synth solo on "Floodgate". Tim Byrnes - trumpet, horn in F. Mia Matsumiya - violin, synths. Jason Byron - guest vocal on "The Black Stone" intro. Randall Dunn - synth design. Jessika Kenney and BC Campbell - guest backing vocals.

Produced by Randall Dunn and Toby Driver at Avast in Seattle, WA, April 2013. Recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn. Assisted by Scott Cedarholm. Mastered by Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering.

Album photograms by Rachel Wolf. Band photos by Toby Driver.