Kaipa announce new drummer and new album

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Swedish prog legends Kaipa will release 14th album Urskog in April

Kaipa
(Image credit: Press)

Swedish prog sextet Kaipa have announced they will release a brand new album Urskog through InsideOut Music on April 29.

The new album, the band's 14th, was inspired by keyboard player Hans Ludin's solitary countryside cycle rides and represents a journey through the Swedish wilderness and the changing seasons.

"Most of the songs were written in 2018," he explains. "At the time I was working on the 6-CD box Hans Lundin: The Solo Years 1982-1989, and revisiting my old solo albums informed my songwriting process for Urskog. Listening to these old compositions influenced my new compositions in a general way; there were also few instances where I took a nice chord structure or a melodic fragment of an old song and turned it into something entirely new. I also sampled some sounds from the 80's that can be heard on the new album."

The new album also sees the arrival of brand new drummer Darby Todd. Todd, who has worked with Martin Barre, Hot Leg, Robert Plant, Robben Ford, Carl Verheyen and more, replaces Morgan Ågren, who had been with the band since they reformed in 2000.

"When the time came around to start tracking drums, Morgan wasn't available within any reasonable timeframe so on Morgan's own suggestion, we decided to amicably part ways," explains guitarist Per Nilsson. "Morgan's fantastic and imaginative drumming has adorned the music of Kaipa for almost two decades and eight albums, but for what it's worth, we felt that this could be an opportunity to bring some new grooves and new sounds into Kaipa. While Hans had a few ideas for the drummer position I only had one person in mind, someone whose creativity and chops rival those of Morgan's but with more of a hard-hitting rock edge, and upon seeing a few videos of this guy bashing the skins Hans was convinced too."

Urskog will be available as a limited CD digipak, gatefold 180g 2LP + CD and as a digital album.

Pre-order Urskog.

Kaipa

(Image credit: InsideOut Music)

Kaipa: Urskog
1. The Frozen Dead of the Night
2. In a World of Pines
3. Urskog
4 .Wilderness Excursion
5. In the Wastelands of My Mind
6. The Bitter Setting Sun

Jerry Ewing
Jerry Ewing

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.