Edley ODowd announces ‘Kowai-Yet’ solo album, due November 26 on Arsenic Solaris
New York-based musician Edley ODowd (ex-Psychic TV) announces his second solo album, “Kowai-Yet,” out November 26, 2026 via Arsenic Solaris.
Edley ODowd, "Kowai-Yet" album cover artwork
New York-based musician Edley ODowd, formerly of Psychic TV, will release his second solo album, “Kowai-Yet,” on November 26, 2026 via the French label Arsenic Solaris. The ambient and experimental record follows his 2022 debut, “F(our)-Ward,” and arrives on vinyl and digital, with the Pink LP edition limited to 200 copies.
ODowd recorded “Kowai-Yet” over three years in multiple locations. The album brings together material he made with collaborators he has worked with since leaving New York City to live closer to nature five years ago. The seven-track record shifts from the sound-collage approach of “F(our)-Ward” toward a more emotional register. “Where F(our)-Ward was more about sound collage, Kowai-Yet is about emotion,” ODowd says. “It’s infused with joy as well as a heaping dose of sadness.”
The album’s title traces back to a single word. Describing a drive home on a summer night, ODowd recalls the sound of crickets against his car tires on humid pavement as both “sinister but compelling.” The Japanese word “kowai,” meaning “scary,” came to him first. At a stop sign, as the air went still, “quiet” followed, and the two merged into “Kowai-yet.”
Individual tracks trace separate origins. “Heat” took shape through an improvised studio session in Los Angeles with engineer Joo Joo Ashworth, built from a drum pattern and expanded with analog electronics set against ODowd’s backwards saxophone. “Again” began as a more traditional song ODowd wrote alone. British musician Gore Tech later added a sharper beat, two guitarists contributed parts, and singer Zoah, whom ODowd met at a coffee shop along the Delaware River, added vocals and lyrics. “Arbiter” reworks stems ODowd had originally recorded for an unfinished song about his friend Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge. Its choruses use samples recorded during a 2000 trip to Nepal with Lady Jaye and Genesis P-Orridge, manipulated into the track. His Problem Addict collaborator Andrew Mann closes the song with guitar feedback.
“Kowai-Yet” tracklist: 1. “Jamesey” 2. “Arbiter” 3. “Again” 4. “(Bruce Was) Kicked Out Of The Band” 5. “Heat” 6. “Sunrise” 7. “You’ll Never Know”
Kowai-Yet release details
“Kowai-Yet” is out November 26, 2026 via Arsenic Solaris as a digital album and a Pink LP limited to 200 copies. Both are available to pre-order on Bandcamp, where the track “Heat” is streaming now. Photo credits: Trevor Gregory.
About Edley ODowd
Edley ODowd grew up in the suburbs outside New York City and moved to Manhattan in the late 1980s, shortly after finishing high school. He got his start on a secondhand drum kit his mother bought him at a garage sale when he was 13. During a semester abroad in London in 1991, he joined the shoegaze band The Butterflies. Back in New York, he played drums and DJed for Toilet Boys, a band that wound down after a major European tour supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
In 2003, ODowd was instrumental in reviving Psychic TV, persuading Genesis P-Orridge to perform again. The reunited band’s first show took place at The Coral Room in New York City on December 5, 2003. ODowd founded the label Angry Love Productions after a self-funded Psychic TV EP sold out its 230 copies within two weeks. The “PTV3” lineup of Psychic TV played its final show on November 15, 2018.
Alongside music, ODowd has worked as a graphic designer for major labels since 1993, taught courses at several universities in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and worked as a mental health counselor, including as a front-line worker during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ODowd released his debut solo album, “F(our)-Ward,” as a self-released, ultra-limited cassette via Flesh Prison/DeathBed Tapes in 2022. Side-Line covered its expanded reissue, “F(our) ward,” released as a trifold-sleeved CD with three bonus tracks via the Italian label 13 on February 23, 2023. That same year, ODowd formed the death rock band Scorpion Tea with Christian Cruz, singer Anthony Diaz and bassist Fern Puma, signing to the label GIVE/TAKE. Side-Line covered the band’s debut single, “Scarlet Misquote,” in June 2023, ahead of the band’s self-titled debut album.
ODowd now lives about an hour’s drive from New York City, where he continues to split his time between graphic design clients, band rehearsals and recording. “Kowai-Yet,” his second solo album, is set for release on November 26, 2026 via Arsenic Solaris.
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