‘Syzygy 02’ is on the way: Opiuo releases project’s first single, ‘Kaleidoscope’

After the success of last year’s Syzygy 01, New Zealand-born, Australia-based bass-funk producer Opiuo has been hard at work. He brought the acclaimed EP to his live show at the legendary Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Colorado last year, and performed the project alongside a full-piece orchestra. Now, he’s returned to give his listeners a taste of the second volume of the Syzygy series with the first single, “Kaleidoscope.”

“Syzygy,” in astronomical terms, refers to the alignment of three or more celestial bodies in a given gravitational system. The most striking syzygy seen from earth is, of course, the total solar eclipse, when the moon passes between the earth and the sun with exact precision, creating total darkness on earth for a few minutes. It only comes around once every four years and is said by everyone who sees it to be an incredible experience. When the sun and moon are in syzygy, tidal forces on earth are affected as well, rising higher and falling lower than normal. Some scientists have suggested that this syzygy may affect the earth’s crust in the form of earthquakes.

This new track is certainly emblematic of a swelling and shifting energy for Opiuo. “Kaleidoscope” offers a long, tense build of nearly two minutes before dropping into a dark, heavy bass-funk drop. Somewhat of a departure from his often peppy and upbeat melodic structure, images of the moon looming over a darkened earth are easily called to the imagination by this first installment of Syzygy 02.

Paired with a video from Dr. D Foothead, “Kaleidoscope” is out now. Catch Opiuo on tour this fall alongisde Gramatik and Balkan Bump.