Tallinn-based quartet Kaschalot will release their new album Anemoia on April 8, 2025. Clocking in at just over 37 minutes, the eight-track LP is the group’s first full-length since 2021’s Zenith, and it reflects a longer creative process marked by three years of personal and musical evolution.
The album is available digitally and as a limited black/gold splatter vinyl. Ahead of its official release, Anemoia is streaming exclusively via IDIOTEQ today! Check it out above!
Kaschalot formed in 2014 and has since developed a distinct sound at the intersection of math rock, post-rock, and emotional hardcore. While the band’s previous work already leaned into precise structures and emotionally textured instrumentals, Anemoia pushes further into a space defined by layered guitars, tight rhythmic control, and a cinematic approach to instrumental arrangement.
The album was recorded partly DIY, with guitars, bass, and trumpet tracked by the band, while drums were recorded at Andrecording Studio, engineered by Andrus Magne. Mixing and mastering were handled by Peter Ternovoi. The release was produced by guitarist Aleksandr Ivanov. The visual side of the album features a cover photo by Stefano Perego and graphic design for the vinyl version by Andri Allas.
The band lineup remains Aleksandr Ivanov on guitar, Sulo Kiivit on guitar, Karl Tammaru on bass, and Aivar Surva on drums and trumpet. The use of trumpet subtly adds a new dimension to the band’s otherwise guitar-centric compositions.
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Described as their most ambitious chapter yet, Anemoia fits into a wider discography that includes Whale Songs (2018) and Zenith (2021), both of which helped solidify Kaschalot’s presence in the Estonian independent scene. This new record builds on those foundations with a broader emotional range and more expansive arrangements, staying within their genre’s technical expectations while stretching into expressive terrain.
While Anemoia stands firmly on its own as an instrumental work, the context behind its creation reveals deeper layers. Originally envisioned as something more “airy and easygoing,” the album took a different path due to what the band describes as “the times we live in.”
Aleksandr Ivanov reflects: “It became impossible to ignore the atmosphere around us, and we chose to embrace that influence rather than resist it.” The result is a record that leans more into dissonance and emotional weight, with moments that nod toward screamo—an intensity that marks a shift from earlier releases.
The artwork follows this narrative arc. The cover photo was shot by Stefano Perego, a long-time friend of the band, known for his books Soviet Asia and Brutalist Italy. Like Kaschalot’s earlier visuals, it draws on fragments of Soviet-era architecture, offering what the band sees as a visual counterpart to the music’s themes. “That ties directly into the album’s title—Anemoia, a term describing nostalgia for a time you never actually experienced,” the group explains.
Growing up in the late ’80s and early post-Soviet ’90s, the members of Kaschalot describe being told they could “dream big,” but often without clear paths to get there. Anemoia became a reflection of this generational tension—“our way of exploring and paying tribute to that ‘false nostalgia’—the punk rock culture we only discovered in the ’90s–00s, despite it being decades old elsewhere.”
Though Estonia’s underground scene is relatively small, the band emphasizes that it’s rich in character. They namecheck artists from the younger generation—C.C., Borm Bubu, Mariin K, Buzhold, and Vesi Päästab—as well as Kitty Florentine and The Nonconceptual Art Club.
“Despite the challenges and limited resources, musicians here continue to push boundaries and deliver powerful work,” they note. Anemoia may be rooted in personal memory and cultural displacement, but it arrives as part of a living and evolving local scene.
