With its name inspired by a dream, “October By Name” marks out a new chapter in the career of Kavus Torabi — a Psychedelic polymath increasing stretching out his creativity via co-ordinates entirely of his own. This has been a decade so far in which his prolific artistry has only been matched by an equally turbulent period in his personal life. Yet the alchemical charge that has resulted matches the mystical origins of the album’s title with six songs that inhabit a similarly surreal and transcendental landscape. As Kavus reckons “If you can’t trust your subconscious, who can you trust?”
Not merely a more optimistic and beatific sounding record than its cathartic and intense predecessor “The Banishing,” “October By Name” sees Kavus evolving as an artist in ways he maybe didn’t even predict himself. Both inspired by his recent work with Gong and Cardiacs, and inhabiting a serious change of modus operandi via his work to date with the improvisational project The Utopia Strong, he created a new method of writing where all styles converge and overlap “As with the first time I heard Cardiacs at the age of sixteen and thinking ‘Oh! You can make stuff like this’, so I had a similar epiphany three decades on“
“Water Into Wine,” a particularly striking example of his current headspace, is a disarmingly catchy ditty with a philosophical stance inspired by friends and acquaintances., somewhat in the great lineage of British Psychedelic pathfinders through the ages (the triumvirate of Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock and Julian Cope being an example) It’s at heart a bittersweet yet optimistic reverie that is pure Torabi. “Perhaps there is no free will and we’re all just playing out the consequences of our genes, insecurities and childhood damage” he reflects on the fundamentals of this song “But I have to believe change is possible because, honestly, what’s the point in anything if it isn’t?”
Watch the official music video for “Water Into Wine” via the YouTube player below:
The openers “Signals Shine” and “In Her Radiance”, meanwhile, in all their luminous glory, see him writing love songs. “No big deal in the wider pantheon of music, but a very big deal to me in that I’ve never written this way before.” he notes. “There’s a different energy in writing romantic verse from the position of a man of my age and experience as opposed to when I was in my twenties. I was far too self-conscious and critical to even attempt anything like this back then and genuinely didn’t feel the pull of the love song like I do now. Writing about being on acid made much more sense.”
Crucial to “October By Name” — which Kavus sees as the third part of a trilogy of solo albums is its very specific way of working. “This wasn’t necessarily a contrived plan when I started making solo records but the model I used on my debut Hip To The Jag; performing and recording everything using only instruments available to me, writing songs of an autobiographical and personal nature and drawing and lettering everything by hand seemed to be the right way to go” he notes “This was a way to put all of myself into something, allowing my shortcomings to define the outcome. I’m not a great drummer or letterer, for example, but the way I play drums or hand-letter, sing, or mix becomes the thing.”
“Increasingly, I’m becoming more solipsistic, going further into my own world creatively. As long as the bubble I’m in keeps giving me songs, I’m OK with that. Honestly, every one I get over the line, that still excites, thrills and engages me is a blessing.”
“I want to make something that feels celestial, otherworldly, mystical and transformative” elucidates Kavus, to which one would tend to say: mission accomplished. “I think this is probably what I’ve always been trying to do but there was perhaps some insecurity or need to prove something that made me want to be deliberately obtuse or complex when I was younger. I do think music has a – for want of a better word – supernatural quality.”
“October By Name” is set for release this October 2 via Believers Roast. Check “Water Into Wine” and pre-order the LP HERE.
Upcoming Tour dates include:
10/08 – BOURNEMOUTH – @The Underground – [Tickets]
10/09 – BRIGHTON – @Daltons – [Tickets]
10/10 – GLASTONBURY – @King Arthur – [Tickets]
10/11 – HEREFORD – @De Koffie Pot – [Tickets]
10/13 – STRATFORD UPON AVON – @Stratford Sound Pathways – [Tickets]
10/14 – NOTTINGHAM – @Billy Bootleggers – [Tickets]
10/15 – MANCHESTER – @The Yard – [Tickets]
10/16 – MOLD VOD Music – Free Entry
10/17 – NORTHUMBERLAND – @Sinderhope High Forest Community Centre – [Tickets]
10/18 – EDINBURGH – @Speakeasy Voodoo Rooms – [Tickets]
10/19 – GLASGOW – @Nice N Sleazy – [Tickets]
10/21 – BRISTOL – @Cube Cinema – [Tickets]
10/22 – SWANSEA – @Down By Here – [Tickets]
10/23 – LONDON – @West Hampstead Arts – [Tickets]
10/24 – DEAL – @The Lighthouse – [Tickets]