2002–2004: Formation and Choirs of the Eye Kayo Dot was formed after the disbanding of
Maudlin of the Well, a mildly acclaimed
progressive metal band in late 2002. Several members of Maudlin went on to form Kayo Dot, with multi-instrumentalist Toby Driver leading the group. In early 2003, Toby Driver (vocals, guitar, electronics), Greg Massi (guitar, vocals), Nicholas Kyte (bass, vocals), Sam Gutterman (drums, vocals) and Terran Olson (keyboards, flute, clarinet, saxophone) carried on and took the metal sound of Maudlin in a more classical direction. Rather than using the same band format as Maudlin of the Well, early performances saw Kayo Dot playing as an orchestra of sorts, with many members playing different instruments on stage.
John Zorn's famous avant-garde label Tzadik signed the act in 2003, and
Choirs of the Eye was released in late 2003. Toby Driver would later go on to say that Choirs of the Eye developed because "Kayo Dot is just a natural extension of the places MOTW was heading". After reading online forums in which fans of Opeth and MOTW bickered over compositional styles, Driver decided to make a "through-composed metal album ... one without riffs or arbitrarily repeating parts." This shift in style became the trademark
post-metal or
avant-garde metal sound the band is currently known for. Kayo Dot played the album in its entirety in 2010 at
The Stone in
New York City and again in August 2015.
2005–2007: Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue In March 2005, longtime collaborator and former MOTW member Sam Gutterman left the group to pursue other musical ventures. Tom Malone signed on to replace Gutterman in 2005. Kayo Dot then signed to
Robotic Empire Records and released its second album,
Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue in January 2006. The album was released to good reviews, receiving a 7.7 from
Pitchfork, and garnering the band more recognition in the indie metal circle. The album also received a rave review from Sputnikmusic, in which it received a 4.5/5 and was named as one of the best albums of 2006. The band then embarked on a lengthy fall tour before taking a short hiatus, during which two guitarists, the bassist and the trumpet player-left the band for "personal reasons." Despite concerns that there was bad blood between members, Greg Massi said on his blog that he left the group on "good terms" and that "he was going to try and figure out other aspects of my musical life and take some time to figure out where I want to be going." Massi went solo under the moniker
Baliset and embarked on a tour shortly afterward. He did, however, guest perform with the group to perform its seminal album
Choirs of the Eye at
The Stone in New York City in 2010. Despite retaining only two members (Driver and long time collaborator
Mia Matsumiya), the band started work on a new album in late 2007.
2008–2009: Blue Lambency Downward After signing to
Hydra Head, Kayo Dot began working on their third album,
Blue Lambency Downward, which was released in May 2008. Driver and Matsumiya used several session musicians on this recording, including
Skerik on saxophone and vibraphone, Hans Teuber on clarinet, and
Charlie Zeleny on drums. Additionally, Randall Dunn was enlisted as producer and recording engineer. This album marked the first time Driver allowed one of his recordings to be produced by someone other than himself. After the album's release, Driver relocated from Boston to New York City for the purpose of touring the album. A new lineup was assembled, including Patrick Wolff on woodwinds, Daniel Means on woodwinds and guitar, David Bodie on drums and original (and former Maudlin of the Well) member Terran Olson on woodwinds and keyboards. Despite a successful tour, the album was not received as well as previous releases. Allmusic and Drowned in Sound gave it mostly positive reviews, but it was panned by Pitchfork, who gave it a score of 3.3 out of 10. Among other complaints, the Pitchfork review stated that Blue Lambency Downward had few memorable moments.
2010–2012: Coyote, Stained Glass, and Gamma Knife After the poor critical reception and fan response to
Blue Lambency Downward, Driver began working on a new long-form composition with Yuko Sueta, a NYC-based writer, filmmaker, and video artist. A first draft of this piece was premiered at The Stone in September 2008 by The Kayo Dot Auxiliary Unit, which consisted of David Bodie and Daniel Means of Kayo Dot, Yuko Sueta, and Tim Byrnes on trumpet. Shortly after, Sueta became incapacitated by
breast cancer. Driver then re-drafted and adapted the piece, which was recorded in Seattle during June–July 2009 with Randall Dunn at the production helm. A tour with
Secret Chiefs 3 followed, after which the album was released as 2010's
Coyote on
Hydra Head. Sueta died while the record was in post-production, which compelled the band to dedicate their performance to her. It featured a guest guitar solo by
Trey Spruance of
Secret Chiefs 3 and
Mr. Bungle fame.
Stained Glass was partially recorded at Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts, by Jim Fogarty, and partially by Toby Driver at his home studio. Consisting of one self-titled track, the twenty-minute EP was released on CD by Hydra Head Records and on LP by Antithetic Records in early 2011.
Stained Glass features lyrics by Jason Byron, but only some of the ones written were actually sung on the album. The remaining lyrics appear in the liner notes, some of which were later used in Jason Byron's book, "The Sword of Satan" which was included with the LP release of
Hubardo in 2013. Like
Coyote,
Stained Glass was released to mixed reviews. The critical and commercial failure of these albums, resulted in Kayo Dot and
Hydra Head mutually parting ways. Kayo Dot was left without financial support from a label and decided to stay independent, so the band recorded the album
Gamma Knife live at a concert in Brooklyn, New York on October 5, 2011. The album was different in that it was recorded with a budget of zero dollars via six channels of microphones into a laptop helmed by a friend of the band, composer Jeremiah Cymerman. The concert featured several moments of audience participation. It received moderately good reception and was seen as a return to the group's metal roots. It was self-released on their own imprint Ice Level Music, digitally on January 4, 2012, on
Bandcamp and later by another record company, Antithetic Records on
CD and
LP. The lineup remained the same, except
Kim Abrams played drums on the album.
Gamma Knife was received critically better than the past few albums, as SputnikMusic gave it a 3.5/5 and said "for the first time in years, Kayo Dot feels musically relevant."
2013–2018: Hubardo, Coffins on Io, and Plastic House on Base of Sky In 2013, Driver announced a pre-order for Kayo Dot's new concept double-album, which contained approximately 100 minutes of music. Instead of using
Kickstarter like many other crowd-funded musical projects, he announced that the album would be financed with money earned from pre-orders. It would be named
Hubardo (which means "lamp" in
Enochian), and its release would mark the group's ten year anniversary. Driver announced that the album was recorded in the spring of 2013 in Seattle by longtime collaborator Randall Dunn. It was digitally released on September 10, 2013, to widespread acclaim, and received good reviews from multiple sources Through crowd-funding, Kayo Dot self-released a triple LP that sold out immediately, containing a 40-page book/poem by former
Maudlin of the Well guest vocalist Jason Byron entitled "The Sword of Satan." Byron also wrote the album's lyrics. The album featured a line up similar to previous albums, with the exception of Byron's guest vocals on the first half of "The Black Stone." This was Byron's first recorded appearance since Maudlin of the Well's
Bath and
Leaving Your Body Map. It is widely considered a return to the group's metal roots, and was selected as the 4th best album of 2013 by SputnikMusic. Sputnik noted that
Hubardo "recalls the black metal chamber music of Choirs of the Eye." Despite the involvement of Terran Olson and
Mia Matsumiya, neither participated in the ensuing tour, except as occasional guest musicians. The U.S. tour for
Hubardo commenced in early 2014, and included dates at
SXSW. Many dates were sold out. On July 10, 2014, the band announced a new album called
Coffins on Io to be released October 16 via
The Flenser. Driver said of the record, "Basically the vibe that we're going for here is inspired by 80s retro-future noir—
Blade Runner...I wanted to make a good record to put on while you drive across the desert at night under a toxic, post-apocalyptic atmosphere...There's a weird underlying theme of murder, shame and death." The album was released on October 15, 2014. Violinist Matsumiya's Instagram screenshots documenting the online abuse she has received were the subject of an October 2015 BBC video. The band's eighth studio album,
Plastic House on Base of Sky, was released on June 24, 2016. The album has been noted to feature an increased influence from
electronic music.
2018–present: New albums In September 2018, Kayo Dot signed with the German record label
Prophecy Productions, also announcing work had begun on a new album. One year later, in September 2019,
Blasphemy was released to positive reviews. Two music videos were created for "Blasphemy: A Prophecy" and "Turbine, Hook & Haul". Both were filmed and edited by Toby Driver. The band's tenth album,
Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike, was released by
Prophecy Productions on October 29, 2021. It received superlative reviews and reached the German Top 100 Album Charts for the first time in the week after its release, November 5, 2021. A video was created for the first single, "Void in Virgo (The Nature of Sacrifice)," by musician, writer, and filmmaker Nick Jack Hudson. In February 2023, a 20th anniversary tour of
Choirs of the Eye took place in select cities around Europe with the entire Maudlin of the Well line-up. Their eleventh studio album
Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason was released on August 1, 2025. == Musical style ==