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This post just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how much you try to submerse yourself into the search for new music, there is always someone else out there that’s been right under your nose. While the casual listener likely has no idea who Devin Townsend is, I may very well be chastised by my Obnoxious counter-parts for admitting I never knowingly heard any of his music until this past Monday.
Devin Townsend actually has a rather extensive music résumé, and while I encourage you to check it out, I’d just be regurgitating Wikipedia if I tried to summarize it. On the other hand, I have been listening his latest album, Ki (2009), practically non-stop since Monday night. I’ve gone from worrying I may have finally bought an album based on instinct that I would end up not liking, to thinking this isn’t so bad, and finally to realizing… holy shit, this album is brilliant! Hopefully, I can help you skip the first few steps.
Keep in mind that I’m unfamiliar with his previous work, and I believe this project is a departure, so you may need to keep an open mind as I inherently already had… sort of. I was not entirely sure what to expect, but from the quick sound clips I gathered the album was generally mellow and focused around the guitar. It turns out mellow isn’t really best choice to describe Ki, but it’s also not too far off. The best way to succinctly describe Ki is an eloquently executed diversity of rock from the ’50’s all the way until trends over just the past couple years. While some bands like Estradasphere or Between the Buried and Me incorporate extreme genre flips, they almost do it for shock value. Devin Townsend has managed to combine styles similar to those found in artists/bands like Lunatic Soul, Jerry Cantrell, Frank Zappa, Eric Johnson, Richie Sambora, Jane’s Addiction, Mike Patton, Isis, and Elvis. That may sound like an absurd collection of styles to merge… and in a way it is, but Devin Townsend somehow made some sense out of it.
My favorite track is called Trainfire. It starts out like something you might here from Elvis back in the ’50’s and before you realize it you’d swear you were listening something along the lines of post-metal. AND IT FITS SEAMLESSLY!!! Trainfire has the most diverse styles in a single track, but the album as a whole has this trend. When I was picking out short clips before buying the album, I definitely got the sense that each track was probably very different and perhaps the goal of the album to express Townsend’s diversity of influences. After giving myself time to absorb it all and process what I heard, I realized Ki isn’t necessarily about diversity for sake of diversity. It’s about actually connecting the dots between the various styles. His transitions are by no means non sequiturs.
Ki is not the typical progressive rock album. You won’t hear flashy solos or even technically difficult pieces in terms of their performance. The beauty of this album is the simplicity of its performance and intricacies in the writing and production. On top of that, this album incorporates the largest span of rock eras I’ve ever heard, and does it eloquently. The bulk of the diversity is in the tone of the guitar and Devin’s voice, and he does both very well. I’d also like to add that I love the female vocals used in a few tracks. This album is very unpredictable. So much so that expecting it to be unpredictable would be misguided. All of the tracks are unique and don’t sound like they came out of some factory cranking out odd combinations of rock. I believe this album has helped unify the ever widening spectrum of rock and roll. By the way, Ki is the first of a four part album series (the second of which is due to be released in November) by Devin Townsend and I certainly look forward to hearing what’s to come!
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