It seems almost naïve, perhaps cliché, to say everything has led up to this moment.

Hear me out.

Kazyak’s origin has been a largely unreleased (at least officially) two EP with one LP precursory existence, until now. Having just released their 8-track (as in songs, not the throwback tape) Odyssey, Kazyak has boldly sought to capture a sound that guides us like a ship navigating only on the stars in the clear night sky.

Embarking on their most recent creation, Kazyak had a “desire to explore and take the listener to the edge of discovery.” Frey further explains the release, recorded live, carried influence from “Patagonia and themes from Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth.” While this seems a lofty undertaking, it really just works.

The Minneapolis drift-psych rock five-piece Kazyak truly appears to have found their skin in Odyssey. Their prior work, in retrospect, now feels it was just barely missing something. That something has now been found and like the last piece of the puzzle we can step back and see the vibrant landscape Peter Frey, Nick Grewe, Pat Hayes, Tyler Safranek, and Andy Wolfe have crafted.

In the vast, exploratory openness of Odyssey, I find myself clinging to the little things, the intricacies of the record that ebb and flow into one another with grace and precision. The album waxes poetic in a way that can be as simple or complex as you allow your mind to make it. They layered Odyssey of Kazyak is a blissful departure of the daily drudgery and fogginess we constantly find ourselves trudging through. The escapism of the record is quite pleasing and full of depth. Frey’s vocals compliment the airiness when present, but don’t become obscured by the vast sound they’ve crafted. The finest touch, however, comes in the reservation of the record. Rather than overwhelming any one part of any track with single abrasiveness vying for attention, Kazyak plains their delivery with a blended composition that is smooth as glass.

Everything that was and is Kazyak culminates in Odyssey. But rather than a finality, this really feels the first step of a journey rather than the last.

Greg is a co-founder and regular contributor of Nanobot Rock