K-ORA – Coaxial Constructs
K-ORA – Coaxial Constructs – EP Review
Perhaps there are some of you out there that remember this bizarre oddity from our music-scene – it was only back at the end of April this year that we first ran into K-ORA and reviewed the single “Sphere 2020” here on our pages…that ain’t too long ago, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve got a memory a mile long when it comes to what you spend your time listening to. Especially when it’s off the beaten path, am I right? K-ORA is as different as it gets really, and I dig that personally, yes I do. It’d be almost impossible for me to ever forget a soundscape-based project like this one and the weirdness it provides.
Back again with the next adventurous record beyond the singles released in 2021 and the Sphere 2020 EP put out earlier this year, K-ORA has returned with Coaxial Constructs at the end of summer 2022. One of the few instances where a concept record gets a pass from me – I normally rail against them, simply for the fact that everyone EXPLAINS them online right after they release them, thus defeating the point/taking the mystery out of it all, you know? I’m a big believer in the fact that, if whatever concept you’ve chosen really works, it would speak for itself, would it not? Like I said…that’s how I feel about MOST of them…but K-ORA, being an instrumental, digitalized & ambient-based project that isn’t singing about the concept in question from track to track…I mean…I think it’s only fair that the dude explains a little bit about what’s up to support the otherworldly sounds he’s creating. I don’t know that a song like “Phase 1” sounds like “A cold planet, with minimal light and gusting wind. The ground is flat and abrasive but you see cascading hills in the dark. You find constructs scattered around the land. Humming and glowing, indistinguishable at first. Mechanical like objects erect toward the sky. At first it seems devoid of life. Until a feeling over comes you, something is watching.” – but I don’t know that it doesn’t either. As far as I can tell, or what I’d assume, it’s gotta be at least CLOSE to this description as far as what “Phase 1” sounds like…but more importantly, I dig the fact that K-ORA has really put the time in here to add the storyline details. As I said, if this was a record full of sing along songs, I’d be pissy about that same thing, because we should be able to understand the concept from the words – but here in the instrumental realm, it’s actually pretty rad to have the story influence our mind in the direction of what we hear, and vice versa too – we can hear how a song like “Phase 1” echoes the story. Hollow and haunting, “Phase 1” sounds like tremendously vast space, unexplored & untouched by you, me, or anyone else, with the mechanical breeze of mystery rushing through your speakers and icing the blood in your veins with the cold & eerie vibe it has. Much like in my review of “Sphere 2020” earlier this year, it’s easy to say that Coaxial Constructs ain’t gonna be for everyone…but that’s kind of the idea too – you make music like this for the joy of exploring the unexplored & going where no one else dares.
Did I mention the fact that these tracks are super long as well? “Phase 1” closed in on twelve minutes, and “Phase 2” surpasses that…these are experiences in sound that are designed to take you out of your world and shroud you into the shadows of the concept. Highly effective in my opinion – one of the best ways that can be done is to give us MORE than most music ever would, and with nearly every track of this set of five cuts reaching double-digit lengths, K-ORA has ensured we get to spend the time we need to in order to FEEL the music we’re listening to. Again, I dig that. I can easily recognize that this project is just about as far removed from whatever is on your playlist right now…at the very least, MOST of your playlists right now…but even covering this wonderful musical oddity on our pages is a genuine attempt to reach out to the fringes of our scene. Covering Coaxial Constructs is for the freaks and geeks like ME, that enjoy something truly different from everything else – think of stuff along the blurred lines of Kaada/Patton, or what you might consider to be the background soundtrack to your science fiction odysseys…that’s the kind of realm of sound we’re diving into here – and I’m stoked to take the trip. Even I’d acknowledge that I’m not gonna be listening to a record like this EVERY day…but I’d be a fool not to recognize how much of a place music like this has in my world and in my heart. “Phase 2” has such impeccable attention to detail…it moves slowly, it crawls, and ultimately, it’s outright fucking EPIC if you ask me…which, YES, is the way I felt about “Phase 1” too really, but there ain’t nothing wrong with that. K-ORA’s got real options as far as I can tell – there will always be folks on the fringe like myself that will happily listen and pay attention to the authentic art & craft in music like this, but admittedly, we’re few and far between…that being said, if K-ORA opens the door to becoming part of the soundtracks you experience in television & film projects, look the fuck out, because this is career-worthy stuff for sure.
While the changes are slight, and the way these songs morph from one to the next would practically be altogether missed by the majority of listeners…if you’re paying attention, you can hear things beginning to come alive on a track like “Phase Coaxial Life” – and it’s pretty freakin’ creepy, at least to a degree. These beings within the concept & framework of Coaxial Constructs aren’t exactly ascribed a demeanor – that’s largely left up to us and our minds to fill in the blanks, which I love. There’s really nothing that specifically SAYS we’re supposed to be creeped out, but you probably will be…as far as we know, these “mechanical objects” COULD be as friendly as good ol’ Saint Nick – they just might not exactly sound like it, you following me? Our minds jump to conclusions when we listen to instrumentals and ambient music…what sounds like it could be malevolent or even based in horror, doesn’t necessary have to BE the case – make sense? All I’m tellin’ ya is that I’d probably keep my distance from these “constructs” just to be on the safe side…because this does sound as menacing as curious…and I ain’t looking to be frozen in carbonite like Han Solo anytime soon, you feel me? I don’t KNOW that’s what would happen if I approached these beings to say hello…but I feel like there’s an air of caution in the mix here…a sound that says we’re better off to keep our distance, and observe. Everything is so spread out, that it FEELS like we can see these beings K-ORA is referring to in the storyline, and like we’re at a safe enough distance that we won’t be discovered, or potentially harmed…yet it’s impossible to deny that we’re also witnessing something extraordinary, mammoth in size, and unlike WE are…it’s clearly the sound of something that ain’t human. This whole record plays & moves real slow…but in my personal opinion, it’s freakishly rewarding to listen to – you really get engrossed into both the story and the sound at work, and K-ORA plays it straight without adding in any bullshit for shock-value or to jolt us out of the suspension of disbelief. Tracks like “Phase Coaxial Life” are all-consuming, subtly powerful, and truly important to the concept driving the record…there’s just enough of everything to keep your ears on high alert & wondering what the heck is going to come next…and to heed the potential danger we’re finding.
According to the storyline, part of the reason things would move as slowly as they do sonically, is because we’re actually witnessing “years pass” in this concept…and in “End Phase 1” these mighty bio-mechanical beings are breaking down into the roots of their coaxial cables, “beginning their dying process.” K-ORA, you’re a trip yo – I mentioned that by now, right? In this one experience of this EP alone, we’ve witnessed the birth & rise of beings we’ve never conceived of, and followed their entire life cycle through to the end already by track FOUR…or at least, it would appear. Clearly, with five tracks on this record, there’s still more to follow in this story, but when you arrive at “End Phase 1” you feel that deconstruction and finality at work as you listen. Again, we have the advantage of the storyline that accompanies the music & vice versa, but it all creates a seriously complete picture…and it works brilliantly. I ain’t saying it’s music for your momma, but for those of you out there that enjoy something totally out of the norm and way beyond outta left field, a record like Coaxial Constructs could very well be what you’re looking for. It’s more than mere droning, more than the average soundscape provides – I’m not saying it would or wouldn’t benefit from a bit more going on, that’s possible – but I am saying that within the concept K-ORA has presented and written within, everything you’ll experience fits, 100%. Personally, I love how it all seems so electric…it authentically feels like there’s electricity in the air surrounding us at all times as we listen…to me, that was crucial in bringing this whole concept together.
“Phase Coaxial Death” finishes off this wild & weird new K-ORA EP, with the bio-mechanical beings now forming structures, like cold hard shells of what they once were…completely lifeless now. While most of the record continuously flows from one track to the next, you get that slight separation before this final cut begins, which tells us we’re in the aftermath of it all now. It still comes with the strange, ominous, epic & curious sound we’ve been experiencing the entire time, but that tiny little break is a cue to our ears that we’re in a slightly different chapter than any of the rest. Like we’re walking around a mausoleum of mechanical futurism, marveling at how intense everything must have been when these beings once roamed their planet. Now, who knows, maybe you can sell tickets at the gate outside, and perhaps tour through them like you would through a city, plunging straight into the depths of these cold giant beasts like you’re finding out you’re actually IN the being itself, like the characters in the movie Aliens once did. It’s a genuinely fascinating record in many ways…it’s a commitment to listen to, and I can acknowledge that – but K-ORA does indeed accomplish the main goal in total, which is taking you out of your world and placing you…somewhere else. We might not know where, we might not fully understand how, or even why we took the trip to begin with, or comprehend where we ended up from where it all began – but there’s no denying this exploratory odyssey genuinely takes you somewhere from start to finish…somewhere that you’ve never been. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to revisit this place…but still apply that same amount of cautious trepidation each and every time, because it does truly sound like danger is consistently present…and for as subtly as that’s communicated, it’s thrilling.
Check out K-ORA at YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqiO0TZyLbBzsYNu9HsyKlw
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