Michael ‘CAVS’ Cavanagh steps out from behind the kit and further into his own orbit with ‘First Light’, a track that trades impact for immersion, unfolding with a quiet, deliberate patience.
Lifted from his forthcoming solo album Sojourn, the single leans into atmosphere rather than propulsion. There’s a sense of gradual awakening embedded in its structure, textures shifting subtly, tones expanding outward, as if the track is less interested in arrival than in the act of becoming. It’s a marked contrast to the percussive focus of his 2021 debut, signalling a broader compositional reach.
The accompanying visual pushes things into stranger territory. Directed by Jackson Devereux, the video drifts between surreal humour and transformation narrative, placing Cavanagh in a liminal space somewhere between motel room absurdity and mythic reinvention. It’s deliberately off-kilter, but that imbalance mirrors the track’s underlying sense of dislocation and renewal.
Across Sojourn, Cavanagh moves away from the dense, lore-driven worlds often associated with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, instead constructing a wordless narrative. The album’s ten instrumental pieces chart an imagined journey, built through shifting arrangements and evolving moods rather than explicit storytelling.
That expansion is reflected in the collaborative process. Working alongside Melbourne musicians including Jim Rindfleish of Mildlife, Joey Walker and a wider ensemble spanning flute, harp, saxophone and keys, Cavanagh approaches the material less as a drummer and more as a musical director. The result is a sound that prioritises space, groove and texture, drawing from spiritual jazz and progressive traditions without settling into any one lineage.
‘First Light’ sits comfortably within that framework. It doesn’t push for immediacy, instead allowing its ideas to unfold gradually, revealing itself in increments. It’s less about impact than atmosphere, less about statement than suggestion.
What emerges is a project that feels intentionally unanchored, a move away from the expected toward something more exploratory. If anything, ‘First Light’ signals a shift in focus: from rhythm as foundation to composition as landscape.
