Electronic music duo Kashaiof take their name, from the Hebrew word Kishoof, meaning ‘sorcery’. This ethos – the creation of something strange, almost otherworldly through their music – is everywhere in Days, a collection of songs which, at their best, seem to capture not just the sound of an apocalypse, but gesture towards what might come after it.
The vocals that are scattered across the album (usually chants), feel like a genuine surprise when they emerge, in songs like ‘Clay’. It’s as if they’re hidden somewhere, within the depths of these industrial beats, escaping from the darkness and into the light. It’s these moments which capture the most interesting, dynamic bits in Days: moments of tension between electronic rhythms and the sounds of the natural world. Below layers of pounding rhythm in album opener ‘gravity’ is a glowing reverb and the sound of something that might be the wind. Both musically and thematically, the landscape built by Kashaiof exists on top of something else. And when that something else makes its way out from below the depths, Days has moments that feel truly magical.
There are times when this doesn’t quite work. In ‘Pyrite’, for instance, that musical tension gives way to an industrial sound that feels a little more simplistic in the way it marches on relentlessly. But ‘simplistic’ certainly isn’t a word anyone would use to describe the third track, ‘Clay’. Here, the chanting that becomes the beating heart of the track. It offers a glimpse into something transformative, as it gives way to distorted sounds that become gradually overpowering. It suggests a new world clashing with the old.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the title tracks and lead single for Days. Taken alone, it’s enigmatic and enticing, something to try and make sense of. But in the context of the whole record, ‘Days’ feels like an amalgamation of everything that’s come before it – as if a world is transforming in real time. It’s no wonder that the album’s final track is called ‘Grace’ given the power with which it offers a fascinating, if dark, distillation of that very emotion. A voice slowly comes to life through a background of chants. The industrial intensity of the album opens up, giving way to to the old world that lies beneath, emerging once more into the light.
Days isn’t always the easiest listen. There are times when, for better and for worse, it can feel overwhelming, too heavy and aggressive for its own good. But whether its muscling through some of its more blunt industrial passages, or trying to make sense of its abstract layers and buried vocals. the time spent with it feels immensely rewarding, like a front row seat for the creation of something strange and new, something special.
