It is not possible to talk linearly about the different dimensions that are expressed when world becomes sound. Words don’t mean anything. Sounds do. In their incomprehension of ‘mean’, they show the way through, for all that is needed is to be immersed. You go down the path following a smell, something burns in the distance, the earth glows in the dark. Listening is one of the purest acts of surrender, as is the acceptance of struggle, as is death. Making music is complete surrender —a devotion— to the rise and fall, to the scream of what seems to be the end, but reveals itself as the cosmos, a new one. There is a path, but no destination.

Follow sound to break into the fabric of the world. A path without promises keeps you awake, aware, in fear or astonishment. You see what is. In a place where every step is unknown, true mastery is being transparent to show what exists, what is possible. And we are shown there is as much decay as there is evolution, as much pain as there is memory, as much going forward as constantly looking at the past.

Kayo Dot is a creature of many faces. Words and sounds, people, ideas. All looking for something, leading somewhere unknown. An ecosystem, perhaps, responsive to thermal shifts, air currents, migrations. Unique and diverse with struggling forces, drives and cycles, created and fertilized by movement. Aerobic organisms never remain the same. When we talk about Kayo Dot it is pointless to talk about genre. Through listening we are gifted a revelation: there is no concept that can shelter us from chaos. Instead, we’re invited to inhabit a place, multiple places even, that coexist through time and space, to enter the tunnel, to encounter the completeness of an experience.

Toby Driver is our guide, the creative mind committed to the finding and charting of worlds. Around him we have seen artists from many backgrounds, storytellers, performers of every kind. They dwell in the liminal space of the band, a creative circle formed to bring forth a particular vision. Kayo Dot as a universe is enriched by every new hand that comes in to be a part of it. Throughout the years, not only have they shown excellent musicianship, but an expertise in transformation. We especially have to mention Jason Byron, whose words are a primary force of the creation of this universe. Growing from the lineage of maudlin of the Well, Kayo Dot has evolved into the complex organism that it is now. The undeniable presence of history (of the world, of the band, of the individual) makes Kayo Dot’s path full and rich: all the people that were, that are, that will be. All the sounds created, a sacrifce to the art of becoming.

–Ana Cristina Pérez Ochoa, March 2021