On April 28, 2016, the band announced in Facebook post that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus, stating, "We have collectively decided to take a hiatus with no set date to reconvene.
Kylesa is a metal group that borrows elements of hardcore punk, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, sludge metal, and speed metal. They have two singers, Phillip and Laura. Kylesa formed in Savannah in 2001, taking their name from "kilesa mara", a Buddhist term denoting delusory mental states.
Guitarist and singer Phillip Cope, bassist Brian Duke and drummer Christian Depken were former members of the Savannah sludge metal act Damad, which had released two albums in the '90s. Philip Cope has been described as the Savannah "metal scene's godfather." He began playing in hardcore punk groups in the late 1980s, and in 1992 booked groups such as Buzzoven and Neurosis at a local all-ages club. From 1993 to 2001, Cope played in the group Damad. Pat Mathis of the Passive Fist label said that Damad "established a sound that's stuck-- that whole heavy, doomy Southern kind of metal. When you've got these old punk guys who listen to the Allman Brothers and start a metal band, that's kind of what you get." Damad changed their name to Kylesa in 2001 with the addition of Laura Pleasants, a native of North Carolina who attended the Savannah College of Art and Design.
After recording the majority of their first record (S/T on Prank) in May 2001, Kylesa played their first show with Mastodon and Cream Abdul Babar in Savannah, Georgia on June 2, 2001. On June 6, 2001, Brian Duke died from an epileptic seizure during the course of the night. The band decided to finish the recording in Brian's honor, wrote and recorded two more songs (where local bass player and friend Michael Redmond stepped in and played bass). The self-titled record was released about one year later on Prank Records when artwork by Pushead was completed. Prior to the full LP, a single limited 7" was released on Prank also with Pushead art. The Pushead-designed Band Logo from these releases has been used on all the band's merchandise and releases ever since.
Replacing Duke with bassist and singer Corey Barhorst, the band wrote and recorded a split 7" with Memento Mori, on Hyperrealist, and a split full length with Cream Abdul Babar from Florida, on At A Loss Recordings. These records came out immediately following the release on Prank, although they were recorded much later, The long wait for artwork by Pushead delaying the release of the S/T LP. More singles and a placeholder EP, 2004's No Ending 110 Degree Heat Index followed right before Depken left the group.
Kylesa signed with the independent metal label Prosthetic Records and released their second proper album, To Walk a Middle Course, in 2005 with drummer Brandon Baltzley.
Following the release of that album, Baltzley left the group, replaced by a pair of drummers, Jeff Porter and Carl McGinley. Kylesa's third album, Time Will Fuse Its Worth, was released on Halloween 2006. Eric Hernandez replaced Porter and appears on Static Tensions, released in 2009. Two songs on this album were inspired by the shooting of Jason Statts, a Savannah musician. They toured with Mastodon after the release of this album, whose guitarist, Bill Kelliher, said that “ We took Kylesa on tour because we love those guys and have been hanging out with them for years. They blew a lot of people's expectations out of the water.”
Journalist David Peisner of Spin described them as "dark psych-metal titans," practicing an "aggressive [sound], but with a hazy, stoner vibe that suggests a strange amalgamation of Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and early Pink Floyd." As of 2010, they have sold 75,000 albums. In 2010 they signed to the Season of Mist records label to release the album Spiral Shadow on October 26 that year. A rarities compilation album titled From the Vaults, Vol. 1 was released later that year.
Their sixth album, Ultraviolet, was released through Season of Mist in May 2013. The record is said to be darker lyrically and sonically than previous works, containing more vocals from singer/guitarist Laura Pleasants. The band embarked on a full North America headlining tour to promote the release with direct support from Blood Ceremony, White Hills and Lazer Wulf. In October 2015, the group released their seventh album Exhausting Fire through Season of Mist.
Drifting
Kylesa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Can you see
Can you sense that I am near
I let go when you left
I caught water with both hands
I saw a flower in the sun
Tore up its root and it drifted away
Watched you shed your life
Watched you drift away
The lyrics to Kylesa's song "Drifting" are emotionally charged and thought-provoking. The song very strongly relates to the theme of loss and abandonment. The song's speaker mentions how someone has left them and how they struggle to come to terms with it. The opening lines of the song invite the listener to sense the longing and the sadness of the singer, who is trying to connect with the lost one. The singer then goes on to describe how they let go of their past when the other person left them, which is a classic coping mechanism.
The bittersweet moment portrayed in the next few lines is rather powerful. The singer talks about how they caught water with both hands and saw a flower in the sun, which are significant moments in which they try to grasp life's fleeting pleasures. This metaphorical representation highlights how the singer tries to hold on to the only things that make them happy in such tough times. The last line's significance of the verse is how the singer watched the flower that they had held on to wither away, and drift off to who knows where.
The second verse goes on to show how the singer is still reeling from the aftermath of the person's departure. They watched the other person shed their life and drift away, which further emphasizes how helpless they were at that moment. The tone that they portray while singing this aptly captures the sorrow of the situation.
Overall, the song is an excellent representation of the broad range of emotions that a person goes through after losing someone that they care about. The lyrics are full of metaphors that can be easily related to and add more meaning to the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Can you hear
Are you able to perceive my presence audibly?
Can you see
Are you able to detect my existence visually?
Can you sense that I am near
Are you able to feel my approaching presence?
I let go when you left
I released my grip after you departed from my life.
I caught water with both hands
I tried to hold onto something I knew I could not contain.
I saw a flower in the sun
I observed a beautiful moment in time.
Tore up its root and it drifted away
I destroyed something I valued and watched it disappear without control.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Winand Callebaut
This is Laura's personal song about her mother passing away. So much emotion in this one. I cry evertiem at the ending :'(.
Ali Al-Rawahi
very very good