Caspian released their sixth studio album, simply titled Caspian, on Friday, October 16, through Wax Bodega. It is the first full-length from the Beverly, Massachusetts post-rock quintet since On Circles (2020), and their first for the label. The record arrived alongside "A Great Fire," the third short film the band have made around this material, following "Far Country" and "Remain," both shared in the weeks leading up to release. All three pieces were created by Luke Webster Brown and Elijah Sussman, who are also behind the album's full visual companion, set to premiere on Wednesday, October 21, on the band's YouTube channel.
The release lines up with the band's UK and European tour, which began on Thursday, October 15, at Leeds' Brudenell Social Club and reaches Manchester Academy 2 tonight. The 17-date run continues through Glasgow, Bristol, Paris, Nijmegen, Cologne, Wiesbaden, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Ljubljana, Milan, Breda and London, where the band play the Electric Ballroom on October 29, before closing in Ireland with Dublin on the 30th and Galway on the 31st. Two U.S. shows are confirmed for December: the 3rd at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn and the 4th at Boston's Paradise Rock Club. Tickets for all dates are available via Caspian.band.
"Our sixth full length album isn't particularly uncharted sonic territory for the band but rather a process of self-discovery and coming to terms with the decisions we've made and the people we are," explains Philip Jamieson, who handles guitar and synths. "Caspian revives musical pledges established over 22 years ago, forgotten somewhere along the way but rediscovered here, hopefully, in the form of structural simplicity, approachable melodic sensibilities and being ruthlessly direct as possible with our own emotions. In a culture that shows no signs of slowing down, we find these core tenets more important than ever and it's our hope that they're put to the best use we are collectively capable of. We did this record for the 5 of us."
The band tracked the album in April of this year with producer Brett Romnes, known for his work with Hot Mulligan and The Movielife. With members now spread across Massachusetts, Maine, New York and Colorado, writing was condensed into a handful of sessions before the studio, and that tighter window pushed the band to trust their first instincts instead of overloading the songs. "At some point, we realized we can just sit in a room and write really good songs," says bassist Jani Zubkovs. "It's not necessarily, 'If it's not broken, don't fix it.' It's more like, 'If it's not broken, maybe it's good that it's not broken.'"
The current lineup is Jamieson, Calvin Joss and Jonny Ashburn on guitars, Zubkovs on bass and Justin Forrest on drums. The band's story begins in Beverly in the early 2000s and runs through The Four Trees (2007), Tertia (2009), Waking Season (2012), Dust and Disquiet (2015), a record shaped by the death of founding bassist Chris Friedrich in 2013, and On Circles, released in early 2020. In 2024, the band marked their 20th anniversary with a tour. Caspian is available on digital platforms, on CD and across several limited vinyl editions under catalogue number WAX63.
