The album starts and stops with cables plugged into an amp and a guitar abruptly stopping mid-jangle. The band begins subdued and between such uncomplicated beginnings and endings lies a complex array of jangled complexities and raucous rhythms that incorporate a loaded formation of weaponry that ebbs and flows from loaded barrels of guitar jangle that don’t let up for the remainder of the EP. Welcome to Kyoto Lo Fi.
With a jangled wall of sound blanketing several songs that are certainly hummable and danceable if that’s your thing, and I certainly miss live music, so spontaneous dancing would certainly be a welcome diversion. Lady Sapphire surges into that wall, enveloping the vocals as it journeys to the end, exploring a dialogue between two lovers during a series of morning-important but trivial conversations.
The band’s collective origins began in South America, an area rich in musical culture, though its influence is probably buried deep where few of us can find it. Kyoto Lo-Fi owes its immediate sound-lineage to the recent Indie scene of NYC, though they reside in Dallas, TX, The band admits there is a sprinkle of pop and psychedelia mingled throughout their compositions and that may be a 60’s Brasilia influence (Os Mutantes, if I could select my fancy musical spice of choice), but we’d have to ask them.
We are still hunkered down in our bunkers for who-knows-how-long, but hopefully not forever, Live music is a vital necessity, and the band will eventually get out there again. Check them out when they do when the emergence begins.
The Fevered Brain, 30 December 2020
P.S. I also must mention that I didn’t find this band on my own, and the band didn’t submit this to Radio Casbah through any of the formal channels. A devoted fan all the way in Canada who has excellent taste in music turned me on to their sound several months ago. To them, we are all grateful.