Kikagaku Moyo – Kumoyo Island Review
The end of an era of Japanese Psychedelia.
In a statement released earlier this year, Kikagaku Moyo announced that they would go on an indefinite hiatus at the end of 2022. The band, made up of five of Japan's brightest musical minds, stated that their core mission had been achieved and wanted to end their project on the highest note possible. After a decade of exploration into the sounds of psychedelia, Kikagaku Moyo released their fifth and final album, Kumoyo Island, in May of this year.
Kikagaku Moyo, "Geometric Patterns" in Japanese, is a group of close friends playing together with a desire to explore space and sound with a sense of freedom. Their sound comes from each member's own musical tastes yet always rides on a wave of alternative psychedelia. The project started on the streets of Tokyo in 2012, with Go Kurosawa and Tomo Katsurada as the two founding members. Go takes up drums and vox, whereas Tomo picks up guitar and vox. The band added Kotsuguy on bass and Daoud Popal as their second guitarist soon after. Kikagaku Moyo's sound would not be fully realized until Ryu Kurosawa, Go's brother, joined the project with his sitar.
The band blends together the sounds of Krautrock, traditional folk, classical Indian, and your typical, heady psychedelic. While the band initially was not the most remarkable set of musicians, they have developed their vibe into a unique and expansive soundscape over the past decade. Their journey has culminated into Kumoyo Island, a spacey journey that captures the soul from start to finish. These are their sawn songs.
The album begins with a track titled "Monaka." It opens with teasing strings and wind chimes that soon get joined with faint beats from a bass drum and rising cymbals. The tuning on their guitars is immediately recognizable as having an eastern influence and puts you in the right headspace to jam along. Go's hypnotic vocals soon follow, pitched directly into the ears. Kotsuguy plays a groovy bassline, and the track's climax is fueled by repetition and an exciting, warping final bar.
“Dancing Blue” is a standout track and features a pushing and pulling main riff that makes you want to dance. Slight guitar inclusions decorate the space as the bassline actively pushes the listener throughout the track. The lead and rhythm guitar breaks down halfway through the song, and the wind chimes return, placing this song in a similar place and time. An acoustic section starts a wave of echoey, psychedelic jamming. This song goes in many directions before pulling you back into the main warping intro.
The track “Effe” marks the first mostly instrumental song of the album. It sounds like a festival, with big cymbals and ambient flute work that flutters throughout Ryu's Sitar shines on this track. This song IS Japan. Distant drums and cymbals crash as tweeting birds warble through the canopy that is the headspace the band places you in. Kikagaku Moyo keeps the tunes rolling into “Meu Mar,” a fast and exciting track that features spacey and humming lyrics. After a tense beginning, wailing guitar riffs blast off over consistent and pretty drumming. The band intertwines the main and secondary riffs, creating a clash between what's old and what's new. The ethereal sounds of the flute return as haunting opera-like vocals fade out the first section of the album.
“Cardboard Pile” brings the tempo back in from the ether and drives us forward with exciting crashes of drums and guitars. The breakdowns lead to more and more before glitching, and decaying transitions form into a super smooth riff. This song sounds like a hero announcing their presence on a great battlefield. Slow pulsing chants match the warping twangs of the guitar before a final, satisfying drum breakdown.
“Gomugomu” starts with an odd fading out that then comes right back. Kikagaku Moyo's psychedelic folk sound is most present on this track, sounding like summer and good times. Tomo rips on his guitar in a truly explorative style, free of inhibitions. Classic psych distortions break up the track as a messy and raw contrast to the main body. Wind chimes return in “Daydream Soda” and a repetitive, psychedelic set of percussion. This sounds like a later period in the festival that started in the track Effe. It is incredibly ambient and sounds like a song of the night. Something is crackling nearby. There are curious, child-like vocals. Has something new arrived? The track fades like a dream without an answer.
“Filed of Tiger Lilies” picks the energy back up and kicks into gear straight away. This track features tight and loud guitars, spacey background ambiance, and tribal percussion. There are strange gaps in the song that break up ambient warping. An abrupt end sees “Yayoi lyayoi” begin with a somber, wailing start. The tempo switches with twangy synced plucking with retro-sounding lead chords. The galloping bass mirrors the lead riff when absent and makes a concise sound. With their tuning, this track almost sounds like vintage Zeppelin but is uniquely Kikagaku Moyo. The track transforms several times and leaves with a sense of a final victory. Is this the end of the festival?
After a perfectly timed period of silence, acoustic guitars tease as the intro of “Nap Song” begins. This song brings back folk sounds with distant group vocals. With the album getting close to its end, this song feels like a farewell. The vocals begin to battle, expressing different moods before a small climax brings the track back to its main riff. Slight inclusions of piano decorate the ambiance of the latter half of the song. It sounds as if this was recorded on the peak of Mount Fuji on a clear night. Distant sounds of the ocean seem to wash along the coastline, crashing slowly onto the beach before slowly fading into the final song of the album.
Kumoyo Island ends with “Maison Silk Road.” This track is the end of the dream. As we wake up to the sounds of civilization, distant chords slowly begin to form together. Faded words begin to turn into singing. Piano comes in softly and beautifully as the ambiance is turned up to eleven. This song is the search for a place of peace and harmony. The song fades as we enter this space. You can close your eyes and take a deep breath as Kikagaku Moyo give their final goodbye.
Kumoyo Island is an experience of transformation. A place of resolution that blends old and new. It is the final frontier for a band of talented audio explorers. Kikagaku Moyo has created this for all of us to thank their followers for their support, especially at an international level. With everything said and done, this band will go down as one of the most unique and vital bands in Japan's history.
Their World Tour is on now and ends in October in Brooklyn, NY. Catch them before they bid their final goodbye!