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Plastic House on Base of Sky is the eighth full-length release from genre-morphing Toby Driver vehicle, (now Brooklyn-based) Kayo Dot. The album, like its predecessor Coffins on Io, is a departure from the project's previous, metal-based musical explorations, wielding instead dense synthesizers and a rainy, Blade Runner-esque atmosphere. Frequent Kayo Dot lyricist Jason Byron supplied 80% of the text , with the lyrics to the remaining, final track being contributed by Driver. The album was released on June 24, 2016, via The Flenser records. PHoBoS can be purchased in LP, CD, FLAC, and MP3 formats from the label's website.

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01Amalia's Theme7:33 Kayo Dot

PT7M33S

02All The Pain in All the Wide World10:08 Kayo Dot

PT10M8S

03Magnetism7:29 Kayo Dot

PT7M29S

04Rings of Earth8:40 Kayo Dot

PT8M40S

05Brittle Urchin4:32 Kayo Dot

PT4M32S

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Amalia's Theme
Kayo Dot Lyrics

Delphi it drew us
Over the touchscreen
Delphi it threw us
Up like a stone
In sheep's clothing
Instrumental
The gods that roil
Inside of us
As she whistles her sweet
Oracles
Out by the poolside
Ravings of suicide
As Athens is burning
Plots and visions
Empty amber bottle
Opiate
The sky is blue today
Gone tomorrow
Castalian Spring
Watching clouds
Amalia nods
Shield shroud
Of moonbeams sacramental
Poolside cigarette smoke
That gyres up like prophecies
Glyph in dragging blood
Amalia swayin' through the
Hotel corridors
Shuffling through the
Thousands years
Oracular and wandering

Contributed by Molly J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them

Comments from YouTube:

DeadODST

6y↑30

The main reason I love anything Toby creates is because I cant name a single band that sounds even remotely close. He creates such a unique style and he does this across many genres. I cant wait any longer for this record!

Jigen Sylvain

3y↑2

@Doom Mantia True. maudlin of the Well, and Kayo Dot are like night & day. No album sounds the same with Kayo Dot. I'm actually looking forward to Blasphemy, which comes out in 3 days from the time i am writing this. These are 2 of the greatest groups I have ever come across for various reasons. When I worked at Staples, and figured out how to make posters, i made giant posters for Coffins On Io, and Plastic House on Base of Sky.

Doom Mantia

4y↑1

But then like no two of his projects sound the same.

B O

6y↑13

The unique and peerless nature of Toby's music is what makes it so incredibly refreshing (and also frustrating at times, haha). You can't go to any particular record of his with a specific reference point in mind. You have to take every record on its own terms, and, through a bunch of repeated listens, watch Toby & Co. blow your fucking mind.

〇

4y↑20

officially this is one of the best songs I've ever heard

Andrew McInnis

@NoJoshinJoshy based of this syd tune
https://youtu.be/H6ci4pAYiUw

NoJoshinJoshy

Still haven't found anything as addictive as this song/album

Kyle MacDonald

5y↑13

A thousand listens in and it still holds up. Timeless.

Merlijn Toby

6y↑10

the part at 2:56 is one of the most perfect moments in music i've ever heard

Ambiguous Dust

4y↑7

I love the emotional climax that the theme from the begining of the song plays again right before he says Amalia's name at 5:10

Mark Grigoriev

3y↑6

This song just takes me places I thought were long forgotten

Quentin Nussbaumer

6y↑3

This band, and this Driver, are simply unique!!!

〇

4y↑3

the guitars there are so ethereal

Paco Ávila

Amazing song, unpredictable and complex yet beautiful in its own way

popeLicker

3y↑1

So good, like I’m visiting a planet 100b light years away

Eosapien RANCHER

5y↑3

The last 2 minutes of this song are transcendental

Stormtrooper Elite

6y↑4

Toby is a really really cool guy actually. I managed to watch Kayo Dot last night and it was quite nice

Tom Humphrey

6y↑1

Yeah he is very cool, met him when they played in London last year and then met Keith who was also super cool when they did the ballads tour in Brighton earlier this year.
What kind of set did they play? I'm likely going to go up to London on Sunday to watch them, but I worry it will only be this new album, which admittedly I'm not as into as most of the older stuff...

B O

6y↑7

Toby's command of an insurmountable variety of styles still blows my mind. Can't wait for PHoBoS.

Davide Montoro

5y↑1

what is PHOBOS

B O

6y↑1

I can't wait for his next solo release. Judging from the quality of the songs he performed on the Ballads tour, I think his next solo record would be fucking amazing. I think he said in an August 2015 interview that he has around two albums worth of ballads!

Alec McKay

6y↑1

Oh cool, I missed that! Thanks for letting me know. I'm kind of glad because I've listened to it at length on youtube so I feel like it's a new surprise song.

B O

+Alec McKay I initially thought so too, based on the fact that 'Urchin' was supposedly another working title for that song, but Toby confirmed on Facebook that Brittle Urchin is not 'Aurora'

Alec McKay

Pretty sure it is going to end up being "Brittle Urchin" on this album.

4 More Replies...

faerian

2y↑1

he's so inspired by Mia xD (yes it is Mia on the cover even if it's not her face (he told me at a concert in Paris))

gerhitchman

6y↑2

so fucking good

Some Guy

6y↑2

Does anyone know music that is even remotely like this? Totally fell in love with this song, but that unfortunately does not seem to be the case with the rest of the album...

DeadODST

5y↑4

Toby said he was influenced by Susumu Hirasawa. you should check him out. I recommend the album titled "Aurora". It has the same spacy and atmospheric sounds.

Ambiguous Dust

Unfortunately, this album is so unique that I personally have nothing to compare it to. Quite the achievement on Toby's part, but leaves us wanting more and he can only deliver. I guess the most comparable thing as far as intelligent proggy electronic aspects of the music is someone like Ochre, in which I'd recommend his album Midsummer Nice Dream.

Merlijn Toby

a lot of other band on the Flenser label have a similar vibe to it, like Wreck & Reference and Have A Nice Life.
or the electronic project Black Wing (...is Doomed)

rajas

6y↑1

Some Guy depends on what aspects of the song, but you should check out the band Irepress.

faerian

Was the same for me but the magic came with the listenings. Maybe the most organic album from KD (and it's saying something)

youtube user momkey

4y↑1

who is amalia? i see her name popping up in other Driver albums, most notably Birth Pains of Astral Projecting by motW

FreemanLegend

3y↑1

I believe he says 'Amelia' in that song. I heard that it's a reference to a ghost he had in his childhood house or something.

Juan Borjas

6y↑4

I have no clue what Keith is playing on this song and even though I have being playing drums for about 6 years XD

skinnypimp

There's multiple drum tracks on this

Heck Snek

If I remember correctly, they actually layered several different drum takes on top of each other.

Terry Morris

greatest example of rhythm enhancing a track o have ever heard.

licky

6y↑2

it confuses me greatly.

Luis Valenzuela

6y↑8

they are pink floyd in the actuallity

Saraiva Toledo

6y↑3

Amalia´s theme ? I wonder if this has got anything to do with the portuguese Iconic singer

daze

5y↑2

yeah in Birth Pains it was Amelia. Jason Byron mentioned in a podcast that he and Toby contacted a ghost called Amelia in some odd abandoned house when they were kids lol. I immediately thought of Amalia's theme but eh who knows?

Ambiguous Dust

5y↑3

I know I could just literately look it up but I'm lazy, but wasn't the girl in Astral Projection Amelia and not Amalia?

Pedro Godoy

5y↑2

And there´s more to it. I don´t know the reason, but if you look at the lyrics of "Birth Pains of Astral Projection", from motW, you´ll also find a reference to "Amalia".

Powerful stuff.

〇

4y↑2

what are the lyrics about?

Ambiguous Dust

38w

@Some Guy you bring a lot more information to help conceptualize the lyrics. I too think it's about an oracle who divines the future via drug use but that's only because I assume the chick on the cover is Amalia and the album booklet shows needles. That and the detail about Amalia swaying through the hotel corridors like she's inebriated. Had no idea about all the historical Greek details though.

Spooky Man

Doritos

Some Guy

4y↑5

I personally feel like the song is using the ancient Greek oracle imagery to express drug escapism. Lots of references to the Oracle of Delphi, who according to some theories might have had her divine inspiration from vapor with hallucinogenic gases. During the time the Oracle was there, there was also the Persian invasion resulting in burning Athens - so putting these events together, it seems to me like it's about a bunch of people enjoying their last days drugged up in their temporary paradise ("The sky is blue today - gone tomorrow"). Not quite sure what Amalia herself refers to though. There is a hotel in Delphi nowadays called Amalia, so maybe it was simply that name finding its way into the song, especially since towards the end the references become much more modern. The Amalia hotel has a magnificient pool, so I could imagine that the whole "poolside cigarette smoke" etc. part is about modern times and kind of making a connection of people getting their "drug prophecies" even thousand years later at the same spot.

All just wild interpretation though, Toby Driver's lyrics are kinda hard to grasp in general and I'm honestly not sure if they have a specific meaning or just create images to make your own out of it.