KAI OD's song "Daze Past" and the accompanying video, premiering below, are a simple meditation on an old theme: dealing with your issues and coming out stronger on the other side. This sounds good on paper, but what happens when you actually try to do it? Well, you can take KAI's approach and burrow for the answers in the deepest recesses of your soul—which I bet you didn't know could be conveniently accessed from the Mission District of San Francisco.After a rudimentary reverse tape guitar intro, KAI's voice rolls in smoothly, "I just want to be back home, but I don't know where home is." I'll let you decide how profound a statement that is to you, but, for my money, it is really quite profound. Then the beat drops into the spaces between rhythms, in deference to the late great Stubblefield's funky break. KAI's singing becomes rapping. How the hell do you even compete with "Speeding down the coast, smoking weed out the whip / Transform to a ghost when the pigs smell the spliff?" You can't, because this is hot fire, filtered through laid-back San Francisco haze.The whole thing comes to a head when Kai, which means ocean in Japanese, activates a very Little Wing-y guitar that has been subtly strumming in plain sight. He sings, raps, whatever—"Everywhere I go, I'm alone, even with these friendships."In the video, flashes of xenon outline human forms, police sirens lurch around railroad intersections at night, flickering lights and streetlamps cascade drunkenly, blue smoke is injected into a milky white sky over escarpments—but ultimately all the visuals become a portal to transcendence. The noise dies down, and the serenity of the Pacific Ocean envelops you. Worries, bad memories, regrets: They're all still right there, but it's OK because the ocean is your therapist."Daze Past" comes from a musical series called "Reflections Of A Misfit." There are three "phases" in this musical series. Each phase is comprised of three songs. Phase One is called The Return and features the song "Daze Past." Phase Two is called The Development. Phase Three is called Sanctify. Each phase represents a step in the direction KAI OD wants to take you. Phase One is out now on Soundcloud. Stay tuned for the rest, and check out the video below:Alex Dorman likes rap that puts him in touch with his emo past. Follow him on Twitter.
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