Kikagaku Moyo: a mystic midweek jaunt

October 10th was the 10th stop for psychedelic rock/folk five-piece band, Kikagaku Moyo’s North America tour. All the way from Tokyo, the band lent the Wednesday night a gentle hand easing the transition to the second half of the week. Stopping at the intimate Starline Social club in Oakland, Kikagaku Moyo is on tour supporting their fourth studio album, Masana Temples (2018), which was just released on October 5th. Their name translates to “geometric patterns,” fitting their mystical tunes. Mostly comprised of few lyrics, each song consistently provides a varietal set in its own right of either psychedelic or folk tunes, like the range of scenes provided when one holds up and twists a multifaceted gem in the sun.

Dire Wolves (Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band) opened the show, offering classic improvisational psych. The chemistry of the members provided a constructive raucous that was felt by the release of energy from neighbors to the left and right of me.

When Kikagaku Moyo took the stage, lead singer Tomo Katsurada excitedly announced, “This is our first time playing Oakland!”

As the main lights came down, blue lighting enveloped the mass of crowd members. Swaying ensued in time with a quintet of long-haired, mustached stage members guiding the instruments to set the mystic scene for our bodies to follow.

The utilization of multiple pedals by each member produced for a woozying sound, making it hard to distinguish song from song, forcing you to simply just be and enjoy the present – it was hard to take a cue from the changing of instruments or pedals as Ryu Kurosawa swiftly switched between his electric guitar, keyboard and electric sitar.

Despite the entranced state I was lulled into, the songs I could distinguish among the set were some personal favorites: “Dripping Sun” from their most recent album and “Silver Owl” from their 2016 album, House in the Tall Grass.

They play with conventions to create an entirely new recipe for songs that include a prolonged backdrop of drawling tunes and impressive utilization of a variety of instruments and multi-pedals. The set list was like a neatly stacked building you were guided into by the instruments — each song it’s own floor, and the different set of riffs and neatly curated jams in each was like a different room you were led into as you made your journey down a long hallway.