Kaya North is one of several aliases of Caleb R.K. Williams, who also runs French ambient/drone label The Eagle Stone Collective. Last month saw the release of new album Myths, the first release in Lost Tribe Sound’s 2023 subscription series Maps To Where The Poison Grows. As you might expect from the label, it’s an atmospheric record, steeped in a dark magnetic power like ancient forces emerging once more in the present. Both raw and fearless, Myths holds nothing back, channelling sounds as pre-human hymns and supernatural vibrations, like the soundtrack to the final third of a folk horror film where shit starts to get (un)real.
This is not a record that unfolds gently, beginning with what could equate to a sonic jump-scare from its very first second. ‘The Temple (Hymn)’ opens with pounding percussion, like a malevolent force hammering at the door, demanding entry. From there the track builds into an insistent march, snarls and stabs of distorted atmospherics giving the whole thing an ominous inevitability. A swift and unavoidable fall into what’s to come, the harsh and brutal world of Myths.
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If ‘The Temple’ is the descent then follow-up ‘Depth’ feels like an arrival. The track is a slow build masterpiece, all ominous percussion and ghostly groaning drones. Here the drums take a backseat as the ambience gusts and moans like alien gales across the scorched earth of this new landscape. ‘Invok (Pure Kult)’ follows suit, steeped in a dreadful unease, its percussion like the sound of your own heartbeat jumping in your ears in the ominous too-quiet. ‘The Truth’ goes even further, perhaps the record’s subtlest track which plays something like the abstract wind sounds that give so many David Lynch scenes the lingering sense of the strange and powerful.
Myths’ longest piece, ‘Feral Fauna (Severed Myth)’ arises from the previous track with the patience and rhythm of a ritual, ghostly synths snaking from the centre of a shifting ring of rattling percussion. It might not pack the same primal punch as the opening track, but it’s the moment that best captures the essence of the record. A ritual rite, a dark and primitive hymn, a celebration or summons to long-forgotten ancient forces.
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Myths is out now and available via Bandcamp. Alternatively, head to Lost Tribe Sound to get the entire subscription series.
