It’s an unfortunate reality that safety restrictions have completely reshaped the music industry the past few months. Adapting to obstruction, pensive New Hampshire post-metal duo KYOTY have been creatively undeterred by the pandemic. KYOTY have funneled their quarantine experience into a succession of new songs called The Isolation Project featuring a brand new song each week. From earthy doom and sludge to Fudge Tunnel’s industrial noise, KYOTY’s songwriting has been flourishing under self-assigned deadlines.
“Like many bands affected by the quarantine caused by Covid-19, we’ve had to cancel shows, postpone recording, and altogether stop rehearsing,” shares guitarist and drummer Nick Filth. “But we’ve taken this time of isolation to continue being productive. Despite our distance we are continuing recording and are releasing a new single every Friday until we are able to connect again in person. We’ve been writing and recording every day, developing new album art, and also mixing and mastering each track within a one week deadline.”
The Isolation Project is almost two months deep, and Decibel has the newest track early from Deafening Assembly Records. Eleven minute opus “Faith” is an ethereal, psychedelic swirl. But as the song reaches its median there’s a blossom of vibrant melody. By the time the last note withers, “Faith” emerges as the most emotionally evocative song in their series to this date.
Listen to “Faith” below and see what magic Filth and bassist Nathaniel Parker Raymond have conjured this week. Scroll further and read Filth’s thoughts on each of the other six songs in the series. But first, press play on “Faith” and join KYOTY’s voyage NOW.
Faith (Exclusive Decibel Premiere)
Quarantine
Filth: The first song we released in the series was not the first we wrote; we have yet to release that one, as it didn’t feel like the right way to lead things off. “Quarantine,” however, captures those initial feelings of isolation from one another, right after the weight of the stay-at-home order fully settled, perfectly voiced by the soundclip towards the end of the song.
Ventilate
Filth: Although being separate provides its own challenges, working electronically actually removes a lot of constraints from the song writing process. We wanted to push into more industrial territory, and the resulting piece has a rhythm like sustained breathing—albeit mechanically-assisted.
Onus
Filth: “Onus” starts with stuttering and stumbling and a strange, truncated riff that feels like struggling to carry a great burden. Just a few weeks into the quarantine and I think we were all starting to feel pressed down upon by isolation.
Holter
Filth: One of the more experimental tracks in the series, “Holter” was created by Nick as a further exploration into electronic and industrial soundscapes, genres from which we both draw a lot of inspiration. The persistent beep is a mechanical reminder that we are still functioning, still going.
Languish
Filth: After a long blur of counted yet seemingly uncountable weeks, we felt this song captured the drawn-out feelings of captivity and ennui. The initial percussion sounds are meant to evoke the sensation of pushing a heavy rock, while the rest of the song drags as though pulling itself through tar.
Rift
Filth: A great many divisions have been emphasized during this time, and this song has a literal division right in the middle of it. There is an impatience to the uneven time signature in the beginning and middle of the song that reflects the strange off-kilter feeling that seems so pervasive now.
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