Kaiho is KAUAN’s eighth album following 2015’s lauded Sorni Nai, and focuses on childhood and the transition to adulthood, when the death of a loved one shatters halcyon beginnings and makes clear the stark reckoning that awaits in the end.
"This is a new circle in KAUAN’s life. We’ve been slowly walking through the genres of music, and now I feel we are coming to a destination. To me, it sounds like a very mature and comprehensive sequel to our 2009 album Aava tuulen maa. And yeah, it will have a totally different sound because we've taken on a new approach and recorded with very old-school methods (most of the sounds were sculpted before tracking and there was almost no digital processing)." -Anton
Lyrics for Kaiho were written by the great Finnish folk singer Marja Mattlar, and as always with KAUAN, they are sung in Finnish, a language that in its eliding vowels creates soothing ethereal tones understood by few but deeply felt by all.
KAUAN have always created moments of quiet introspection, even amidst the thundering riffs and caustic screams that largely defined the contours of the band’s earliest output. But on Kaiho, as KAUAN step out of their past, songwriter and founding member Anton Belov explores the transition from idyllic childhood to the care-laden weight of adulthood, fondly and tenderly bringing the faded memories of days long gone to life. KAUAN are from Russia, sing in Finnish, and are based in Ukraine, but their music is universally stirring.