Chiyoda Ku – ‘How It Works’.
Chiyoda Ku – Bristol, England, United Kingdom.
(Cover) Photo credit – Honzacolar.
The city of Bristol is often seen as being synonymous with musical progression and diverse creative output. You can quite literally find anything you wish via the Bristol airwaves and with the MF “””””office””””” in such close proximity to the city we often quite gladly fall prey to the all-enveloping talent sphere of influence.
Chiyoda Ku have been steadily releasing their niche take on the world of Instrumental music since 2014, covering the likes of Math-Rock, Post-Rock and Post-Hardcore with ease in a manner standing them out from track to track. What am I talking about? Well, its all very easy for Post-Rock and similar progressive Instrumental music to simply toe the legendary line of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or the token atmospherics of the genre. That’s not to say this band and aren’t for fans of the above but they are also so much more.
‘I’ve Got A Degree and A Bike’ is the first of their most recent album and it breaks it in beautifully. The track is primarily sombre and withdrawn bar the Math-toned Post-Hardcore charge dominating the mid-point. Chiyoda Ku are determined to show you why they are worth your time and with this already multi-applicable sound you’re hooked before track one is over.
After a slow and almost defeated ending where the band have had their rage, playful almost Blues-toned guitar work accompanies bass-lines not to far from Fugazi. The band are far more weighted than many of their contemporaries and clearly hold influences far outside the tokens of Instrumental music and ‘Smile You’re On CCTV’ is by far one of the best on the release in its eerily playful manner.
If I was to let my mind go away with this review then we would be here for volumes. Chiyoda Ku are really quite skilled collectively and individually, with special mention to the man behind the drums, whose performance is relentlessly precise and spectacular throughout.
The band seamlessly transition genres all the while maintaining those jagged Math-Rock guitar lines and reckless (but precise) Punk-approach. See the end of ‘Distracted From Distraction By Distraction’.
In many ways the band remind you of NYC Experimental Rock band Battles in the way they again, seamlessly transition genres but also inject sharp changes in tempo, something that I find is often missing in many Instrumental records. Chiyoda Ku will surprise you repeatedly.
This Bristol three-piece are a band that I wish I discovered where my travels through progressive Punk and Post-Hardcore began to take me elsewhere, as they are in very many ways the perfect band to take you from forays into the weird and wonderful to a fully fledged expedition.
Chiyoda Ku give you instrumentation that if personified would depict scenes of cathartic release, rage, anger and confusion through the harder aspects of their sound but they are also adept at more classic and beautifully crafted Post-Rock and depicting scenes from anything from happiness to sadness and reflection.
The eponymous ‘How It Works’ is token of the calmer direction the band have taken in the latter stages of this debut full-length, with ‘It’s All Monotone’ closing a record that might just well be one of best of its loosely based scene that you will hear this year.
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