Soundtrack for a Starry Night: Kazyak’s “Oddyssey”

Kazyak will host an album release show August 23 at Icehouse in Minneapolis with tickets available here.

Kazyak goes full force psychadelic with Odyssey

Music with the ability to transport a listener out of their body and into a whole new space is rare, but Kazyak’s new album Odyssey, released August 16, accomplishes the feat with relative ease.

A record that feels like a complete piece as opposed to a series of numbered songs, this third full-length release from the Twin Cities based indie rockers is a calming and emotional journey that deserves appreciation.

As I sat down with earbuds to let this music flow through me completely, I lost all sense of time. An hour sailed by and it felt like a few minutes. I literally had to check the track lengths because I thought the album was so short. I reached for a drink of water, only to realize the bottle was empty and I had not even remembered taking a sip. Odyssey will take you on a trip so delightful that you won’t even know how long you’ve been gone, and in that lies its true beauty.

Kazyak consists of songwriter/guitarist Peter Frey and his bandmates Andy Wolfe (guitar), Pat Hayes (synth, piano), Tyler Safranek (bass), and Nick Grewe (drums). Each play their parts beautifully on each track of Odyssey, urged on by a psychedelic breeze of elaborate rhythms, a purposeful bass line, a synthesizer that drives its way into your thoughts, and drawn-out vocals that are delivered with enough desired effect that you can close your eyes and believe that you are staring directly into a kaleidoscope.

Odyssey takes you on a journey from moment one. Six-minute opener “Contravertical” sets the tone. “Discover” opens with the brilliant line “they found out atoms are basically nothing/and we’re made of essentially atoms.”

A few tracks later, Frey’s writing shines again on “Camouflage,” which is a stoner anthem for a new generation, its lyrics making you think about who you really are. When Frey sings “all the chances you don’t take/are the ones you’ll never see” I am taken aback.  

Following that track up with “Zombie Dream” was a smart choice, as the two complement each other well. Believe me, you don’t realize that you need a song about a zombie apocalypse until you hear it, but then once you do, you realize that you can’t live without it.

Odyssey is a complete package. It may seem simple a first, but it is something that you will come back to once you realize that there is so much left to unpack. You’ll think you’re done, but you’ll find more on another listen. It is an album that a listener will continually return to, and that is the mark of a truly great piece of work. 

Kazyak will host an album release show August 23 at Icehouse in Minneapolis with tickets available here.