Minneapolis band Kazyak is the indie craft-vehicle of songwriter/guitarist Peter Frey. For the past half decade Kazyak has been a studio project, recording 3 EPs (2 unreleased) in NE Minneapolis, and is now actively booking shows in the Twin Cities.
The current band is: Peter Frey (guitar), Andy Wolfe (guitar), Pat Hayes (synth, piano), Lana Bolin (bass), and Nick Grewe (drums).
SOUND
Kazyak practices experimentation and finds it's source in a deep pool of midwestern music. The band draws on the abstract side of Bob Dylan's songwriting and lofty sonic architecture from the likes of 12 Rods, Fat Kid Wednesdays, Tiki Obmar, and Bon Iver. The group spits it all back out in their own way: warm nylon-string guitar blended around an expressive falsetto, electronic drum sequences layered beneath a Ludwig kit, and acoustic banjo processed through circuit-bent guitar pedals.
All Kazyak songs are primarily folk songs, brought to life in the studio and on stage. The sound is grounded in authentic sentiment that is infectious, warm and overflowing; and the music has the feeling of being both through-composed and improvised. The band has shared the stage with many, including LA indie rockers the Local Natives and Duluth-based Trampled by Turtles.
The band continues to collaborate closely with Minneapolis-based engineer/drummer Brett Bullion. Past live and studio appearances include Brett Bullion (drums), Jed Anderson (drums), Justin Lansing (banjo), Danny Vitali (bass), Jef Sundquist (bass), Becky Gaunt (violin), Greg Byers (cello), and Ben Brajkovic (piano).
CHRONOLOGY
2016: A new beginning
Late in 2015, Frey moved back to MN from a stint in Bloomington, IN. He continues to record with Bullion and is actively putting together a live band to bring Kazyak back to the stage.
2015: EP3
In late fall of 2015, Frey and Bullion recorded a third set of songs which are also unreleased.
2014: Highwire Records
Highwire Records announced the re-release of See the Forest, See the Trees on July 16, 2014. Highwire is an independent label out of Bloomington, IN whose purpose is to support heartfelt, indie art.
2013: Happy Camping (EP2)
During 2013, Frey wrote a 6-song EP titled Happy Camping. The songs were recorded with Bullion in NE Minneapolis and have not yet been released.
2011 - 2012: Yes!Lets Collective and See the Forest, See the Trees (EP1)
After a period of creative hibernation and collaboration with the Minneapolis arts collective Yes!Lets, Frey wrote the songs of See the Forest, See the Trees in the Great Room of his childhood home. The album’s music and narrative were inspired by the snowy oaks and icy pond in the backyard, and are about isolation, expression, recovery, and patience. The record is an anthem dealing with the refusal of the past to disappear from us irrespective of our desire to have it leave us.
See the Forest, See the Trees chronicles the famous Remus folktale Tar Baby, a child-like aphorism for a problem than only worsens by attempts to solve it. The album's title is a variation on the old adage of "not seeing the forest for the trees," where Frey strived to simultaneously mind the finer details and the big picture. Each song is a snapshot, a thread in a tapestry, and though you never get the sense that there's a rigid theme or set of rules to the story, you can't help but feel that each song is connected on multiple levels.