Lineup: Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals, Bass Jean Savoie - Bass Dave Young - Keyboards Duris Maxwell - Drums
Guest Musicians:
Ché Aimee Dorvall - Guest Vocals on Trainfire Ryan Dahle - Guest Vocals on Gato
During his extended break, Devin continued to write music. In this time he wrote about 60 songs and found that they fit into 4 distinct categories. In 2009 he returned to the music industry with the announcement of The Devin Townsend Project, a planned series of 4 albums with each album having a different set musicians and showcasing a different side of Devin’s music. The first album was released in 2009 and was entitled Ki.
Joining Devin in the studio is former Devin Townsend Band and Strapping Young Lad keyboardist Dave Young. Also on the album is Jean Savoie on bass, who was playing with a Beatles tribute band when he was discovered by Devin. On Drums is Duris Maxwell, whose resume includes playing with Heart on the album Dreamboat Annie as well as playing with Jimi Hendrix once. Che Aimee Dorvall sings on the song Trainfire. She and Devin would later work together on the 2014 album, Casualties of Cool. Ryan Dahle sings on the track Gato.
The sound on this album is totally different than anything Devin had ever put out. The album has a very laid-back atmosphere. There are few “metal” moments on this record. The album has a tendency to build up to what you think will be an explosion of anger from Devin, but calms down immediately instead of releasing that anger. Devin’s signature wall-of-sound production style is absent from this record. Devin primarily uses a clean tone with a lot of reverb on this record and started using Open B and Open Bb tuning on his guitars.
The majority of the songs were written before entering the studio, such as Coast, which was the very first song Devin wrote for the DTP series. Songs like Ain’t Never Gonna Win and Winter came out of improvised jams between Devin, Duris, Dave, and Jean. Terminal was written in the studio by Devin and Dave. The climax of the album, the title track Ki, ends with a series of arpeggios that is the absolute best moment in music history, and if you don’t agree you are wrong. The song Quiet Riot is based of Cum on Feel the Noize by the band Quiet Riot(Originally written by Slade). Ki also contains lyrics from the song Soft from the first Ass-Sordid Demos compilations.
“Days alone, never felt like this The lights of home, a year away And it’s too late to fight it all, just drive. And the streets glow and the night The night is soft”
The majority of this album has never been played live aside from the Ki night of By a Thread. Ki and Disruptr where played several times by the DTP throughout 2010 and 2011. Quiet Riot, Coast, Lady Helen, Ki and Terminal are regularly featured in Devin’s acoustic shows. Immediately after finishing this record, Devin started on recording the next album in the DTP series, Addicted.
Everything seems to be exhausting me, no matter how much sleep or how much coffee I drink or how long I lie down, something inside me seems to have given up. My soul is tired.
Er Wang Dong is a large cave in Wulong County in South-Central China. It has a length of 42,139 meters with a maximum depth of 441 m. It is large enough to contain its own weather system.
“I think it (“Fight”) is really beautiful. That’s my favourite part of writing with him, having another perspective and someone to have your back when you’re feeling awful. We’ve got to know each other a lot better now. We’re good friends. He’s quite amazing. That song “Fight” was obviously like a “Chin up, man! You can either just give up or try to face it and get up over it.” That’s the kind of guy he is, which is really nice to have in my life. He’s a really strong person. He plays it down a lot. He’ll second-guess himself a little bit like “I’m just being crazy!” but he never is. He’s always on point. He knows where he’s going and he knows where he’s been. I look up to him so much as a person.” - Che` Aimee Dorval on Devin
