Kazyak - Odyssey
KAZYAK RELEASES PSYCHEDELIC ‘ODYSSEY’
Twin Cities indie-rock band Kazyak release Odyssey today, a collection of eight-tracks exuding flavors of space rock, psych-rock, and shoegaze.
Kazyak
Guitarist/songwriter Peter Frey describes the album as “more rugged, forward-looking and psychedelic than our past releases. It’s the first record we’ve recorded live, and is channeling inspiration from Patagonia and themes from Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth. It attempts to capture the desire to explore and to take the listener to the edge of discovery.”
Made up of Peter Frey (guitar), Andy Wolfe (guitar), Pat Hayes (synth, piano), Tyler Safranek (bass), and Nick Grewe (drums), Kazyak dropped their Happy Camping EP in 2017, followed by the full-length Reflection in 2018. On Odyssey, the band’s sound evolves, injecting heady psychedelic aspects, as well as drenching vocals.
The album’s first track, “Contravertical,” opens on emerging synth colors flowing into a dreamy psychedelic melody vaguely reminiscent of Pink Floyd, drifting on gleaming guitars riding a tasty rhythmic movement. Gossamer surface hues interweave with shimmering synth tones, giving the tune a trance-like creaminess.
There’s a King Crimson prog-rock feel to the melody, undulating with free-form coruscations.
Highlights include “Discover,” traveling on phantasmagoric-flavored textures, nuanced by dual layers of percussion, as penetrating vocals glide overhead imbuing the lyrics with probing tones. “Camouflage” delivers dirtier guitars, marginally remote, as swirling, oscillating synths fill the music with streaming glows of coloration. There’s a King Crimson prog-rock feel to the melody, undulating with free-form coruscations.
“Zombie Dream” opens on cerebral synths exuding horizontal pigments, followed by a crisp syncopated rhythm supporting thick resonant tones. The harmonic flow of this tune, almost lingering, presents an infectious gliding, floating, soaring feel, while the mood of the tune is dreamy, rife with silky surges of rolling sound.
“Rocket” features chime-like synths atop a jazz-laced psychedelic prog-rock melody oozing contemplative suffusions of summery colors, subtle, light, and airy.
With Odyssey, Kazyak delivers kaleidoscopic spilling colors, heavily glistening reverb, and reverie-esque progressive rock dynamics.
