PYLOT - Axiom

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

PYLOT’s Axiom takes listeners on an auditory journey across a future landscape mingling industrial roughness and grit with lustrous, metallic sheen. PYLOT and his musical guests weave sonic imagery with emotional depth, auditory complexity and lyrical expression as the album unfolds. I enjoy the places to which I am taken by the music.

Collaboration is at the centre of Axiom and the result is engaging. Each of the musical contributions from guest artists adds depth and expression to the album, conveying the different artistic visions and skills of each musician. I enjoy the seamless way in which unique sounds combine to produce an ear-pleasing whole as the tracks evolve.

Musical atmospherics are another important aspect to Axiom. The way in which synth textures, guitar sounds and percussion combine results in music that exudes evocative atmospheres. I find myself painting mental imagery that moves from oil-slicked puddles reflecting neon light to pristine corridors and soaring buildings that slice the sky like crystal shards. PYLOT and his guests are masterful in their ability to generate intense imagery as their musical vision reveals itself.

I’d also like to comment on the songwriting on the album. The lyrics are impactful, well-crafted and emotive. The way in which they explore a plethora of feelings lends more depth and engagement to the songs that move through Axiom.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Invisible” commences as delicately rippling synth is touched by soft rainfall as a phone dials harshly. Crushing bass throbs with full weight as Ezra Hyte’s expressive voice carries a pained emotional core while rounded synth trickles.

Bass pulsates as impassioned power pours from Ezra Hyte’s vocals while the huge drums batter and synth with bending warmth calls out while sparkling notes flicker. The song glides as the melancholy vocals move above the guiding drums and bass.

Ezra Hyte expresses loss in his heartfelt voice and twirling notes twist out while gigantic drums batter. The guitar cries out with power and need intertwined intricately. The track ends on soft rain and a voice on the phone asking “hello who is this?”

Sometimes we can feel shut out from our own lives. The narrator says that he doesn’t feel at home and he’s at war with his own reflection who is “the man I hardly know.” He says that every night he's in a different motel without any place to call his own when "suddenly Alice calls to me from down the rabbit hole."

Our storyteller finds himself "racing back in time, just to find you" but he can't seem to find the words to remind the other person of the past. He hears the other person’s voice from the telephone, which is "the same voice I hear in the bed alone.” The storyteller wonders how to reach the other person’s heart saying that "this diamond ring is the only part." He asks if it was only digital and add that “a drifter I remain, invisible."

The narrator sees numbers and codes "raining inside my head." The codes are like a “shadow on the shore” or a ghost rapping on his door. He says “I won’t go down with the love, I won’t forget.” He remains like an unknown stranger.

Full-sounding, embracing synth flows in a delicate sweep to open “Terminal 001.” Elevated, softly lustrous synth carries a calming melody before fierce, dark bass oscillates in bursts and solid drums throb as ghostly notes glide past.

The balance of gentleness and shadow works well here. Warning sounds ring out, adding tension as the ethereal background drifts. Soft rain falls as gossamer chords swirl.

Rounded arpeggios quickly shift as drums flourish and drive on while jagged guitar slices out and bass pounds. Soft-edged synth runs in dancing lines as the warning noises increase tension. Twirling notes fade quietly into the background before fragile, high synth trembles and rain falls.

”Breathe” begins as a steadily ringing elevated note extends out through static crackle. Metallic, glistening synth entangles in flaring lines as xylophone carries a tranquil melody out over slipping, soothing low synth.

Explosive drums join a scudding bass line as piano-like synth combines with metallic notes in a melodic pattern full of peaceful ease in contrast to the punching low end. Nasal-sounding synth calls out as guitar entangles in meditative, feather-light melody while bass pulses and piano notes drift out in enfolding motion.

Now the guitar cries out in a beautifully crafted melody holding yearning and freedom in equal measure as piano washes past. A guitar solo mingles hope and ache in intricate notes before the xylophone floats by and the track ends on trickling sound and relaxing feelings.

Pattering rain and distant, fragile notes open “Axiom.” An ominous tinge comes into the music as diaphanous notes trail and thunder rolls as huge bass throbs. Delicate notes flicker and active, shadowy arpeggios join hollow sounds. Glistening synth intertwines and string-like synth adds flitting notes.

Piano carries a melody that fills me with deeply felt melancholy as unctuous notes trip past while an alert sound fills a tense synth pattern. Arpeggios wander in a haunting pattern as bass entangles darkly and broadly radiant notes drift. The bass moves with rising tendrils reaching out into silence.

“Lines Of Code” commences as lushly slipping synth flows out. Pylot’s softly emotive vocals glide in with a lonely quality, echoing out into the spacious background. Alan Cox’s drums touch the song as synth ripples smoothly and a guitar sings a energy filled melody out over punching drums and solid bass.

Chiming notes spin in arpeggios while the huge drums throb. Pylot has a powerfully expressive voice that compels me as it captures the pained lyrics. Guitar slices through with a tinge of uplift in it as the song flows out as brittle notes trickle through.

Dreaming pain fills the vocals before Tim Hutch’s guitar solo leaps out, capturing dynamic power in howling, interlocking notes. Percussion pulses hard before gently fading out with a mournful feeling.

What happens if a machine starts to feel? The storyteller says he is a “product of design with wires and circuits.” No blood flows in him but still he asks why he’s hurting. He wonders if his emotions are only “lines of code running in sequence no one knows.” He asks why, if he’s a machine, is he still feeling pain.

The narrator has lived out his life as a human but the truth has surfaced to brutal effect. He finds that his mind is a “mess with a painful intrusion” and his heart aches “with a burning confusion.”

Soothing tranquility flows from serene notes as sparkling synth flits to start “Time Bomb.” Tyler Lyle’s smooth, emotive voice carries a soothing, easy going melody and arpeggios twirl past. Strength grows in the song as the drumbeat thuds hard and a guitar snarls.

I am drawn to the way in which Tyler Lyle’s voice erupts with intense power as the chorus leaps up and along with a muscled guitar. Calm and peace permeate the music as the vocals embody tranquility again. Drums pulse while synth clouds rise up and again the gritty guitar growls and the vocals climb to the heights.

The drums throb unevenly as rough-edged, cutting bass is balanced by bouncing string sounds. The heaving low end supports a distant synth that ramps up to a peak, growing more tense before the song slows. Tyler Lyle’s resonant voice slides through before the song ends.

Sometimes danger and a thrill of adventure draws people together. Our narrator says that they weren’t young and it wasn’t love, just “a need to see the light of other suns.” It wouldn’t be long before he’d lose everything he’d won but “she was running from her demons, he was running just to run.”

A time bomb is ticking in “your dark heart” in the chorus. The storyteller says that you don’t know precisely when but “you know you're gonna blow apart.” He points out that you love what it’s doing but beware because being “in love with that ghost” will catch up “when it all gets too close.”

Now the narrator exhorts the audience to pin the accelerator and asks if you can outrun the devil while he waits at your door. The narrator knows that you love the feeling and the flame but warns that “she's not the sort of fire that you get to tame.”

Our storyteller says that the characters in the story weren’t in love and no names were given. They both understood “what could unravel somewhere up the way” but he owed her something and he’d have to pay for it.

In conclusion, the narrator says that they were on a sinking ship with nothing to lose. He points out that "she was on a suicide mission, he thought it was a pleasure cruise." They were two dark hearts"cursed to run.” Once again, she was running for her soul, and he was running just to run.

“The Road Ahead” opens as muscled guitar cuts in rising chords before chugging into a propulsive pulse. Pylot’s voice is full of rich expression while the drums throb onward and synth notes trickle.

Now the guitar explodes with racing power and encouragement as Pylot injects engaging feeling with his voice. Charging chords add positivity along with the hopeful vocals as the drums and bass shape the song. The melody is uplifting and the guitar unfurls with majestic life.

The low end presses forward before the drums give way to a digital sounding synth carrying a flying melody. Matthew Pennington lets rip with a guitar solo that is full of freedom and soaring joy as the low end adds form before the song ends.

Sometimes we have to fight and rise above the struggles and the darkness around us. The narrator is pulled down by tears and shame as he wades “in the depths in a sea of pain." He says that he'll transform his pain to power and "my fear to faith." He wants to find a way to heal himself and escape. He won't "let the shadows define who I am” and he’ll take a stand, walk through the fire and go down the road in front of him.

Now the storyteller finds himself “driving fast on this lonely highway" and letting go of what’s burning him. He wants to put the pass behind him and let go of what’s binding him as he takes the road ahead. Our storyteller will face life “head on with my heart as a guide” and surmount his fears to “reach for the skies.”

Conclusion

Axiom is a richly interwoven synth adventure that takes us through a detailed and emotionally powerful soundscape. There is heartfelt expression in the music that is given more strength by the guest artists and their contributions.