Dark Operative is thrilled to announce the formal reissue of the first four albums from Beverly, Massachusetts’ sonic Goliath, CASPIAN. Founded in 2005, the band has created a body of work on tape, on video, and out on the road that has captured the attention, fascination, and unwavering devotion of music fans around the globe.
CASPIAN’s You Are The Conductor, The Four Trees, Tertia, and Live At Old South Church albums are all available in record stores now, are all available directly through Dark Operative’s mailorder, and are all streaming on all digital service providers. Find links to everything and more below.
CASPIAN – You Are The Conductor LP
You Are The Conductor is the brilliant debut from CASPIAN. Originally issued in 2005 on the Dopamine Records label, this formal reissue on Dark Operative marks the fifteenth anniversary of the record and the first time it has been in print physically in over six years. It is currently available in either yellow mix or seafoam green vinyl.
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression… and CASPIAN clearly took that adage to heart. “Quovis” into “Further Up” into “Further In” is one of the most impressive 1-2-3 punches on any debut album, to the point where fans of the band started referring to all three in tandem as “The Trilogy” both live and when referencing the record itself. “Loft,” “For Protection,” and “Last Rites” provide the perfect balance and counterpoint to the introductory salvo, all three still finding themselves worked into Caspian live sets to this day.
CASPIAN – Four Trees 2xLP
The Four Trees is CASPIAN’s first proper full-length. Originally issued in 2007 on the Dopamine Records label, this formal reissue on Dark Operative marks the first time it has been in print physically in over seven years. It is currently available in either yellow mix or la vie en rose vinyl.
Following in their own tradition of a staggering 1-2-3 punch, The Four Trees erupts with “Moksha,” “Some Are White Light,” and “Sea Lawn,” all three being live staples to this day and “Moksha” routinely cracking the top five out of all the band’s output across their entire discography at Spotify. What follows is eight more songs (including audience favorites “ASA,” The Dove,” and “Our Breath In Winter”) meticulously arranged and placed perfectly within the program to create a true, dynamic journey across the sonisphere. If there is one thing Caspian accomplishes every time out, it’s to paint pictures or a visual narrative in the mind’s eye as each album unfolds. The dynamics purposefully serve the whole. The refrains create actual shifts in narrative tone. The climaxes and bombast are all toward logical conclusions within a larger story.
CASPIAN – Tertia 2xLP
Tertia is the second proper full-length from CASPIAN. Originally issued in 2009 on the Mylene Sheath label, this formal reissue on Dark Operative marks the first time it has been in print physically in over five years. It is currently available in either yellow mix or la vie en rose vinyl.
Following up a much-heralded debut full-length often presents itself as a much taller order than most bands can ever possibly anticipate. In the case of Tertia, however, CASPIAN charges headlong into what has become a perennial tradition of crafting albums as entire wholes… all utterly devoid of filler or inconsistencies. In an era where the skip function is always a threat and used more than any prior generation, the band deftly crafts compositions that work in unison. To skip any given track on Tertia would be akin to ripping out an entire chapter of a great novel before reading it or skipping the first scene in the third act of a great movie.
Tertia also finds the band, without words, somehow working in moments, if not entire songs, evocative of the geography, climates, and romanticism of their native New England. The song titles are but hints, as CASPIAN’s ultimate distinction above the vast majority of bands is to successfully partner with each individual listener toward the creation of something entirely unique behind the personal lens of said individual… a bespoke narrative limited only by one’s imagination.
CASPIAN – Live At Old South Church LP
Live At Old South Church is a special recording from CASPIAN documenting their live sound post-Tertia. Originally issued in 2012 on the Mylene Sheath label, this formal reissue on Dark Operative marks the first time it has been in print physically in over five years. It is currently available in yellow mix vinyl and limited to 500 units for its initial Dark Operative pressing.
On October 22, 2010, CASPIAN put on their own benefit concert in Boston, with proceeds of the performance going to Amirah, a non-profit organization focusing on whole-person care for survivors of human sexual trafficking. Live At Old South Church is a document of that night’s performance, recorded during the band’s touring cycle on the Tertia album. It is a mix of songs from You Are The Conductor (“Last Rites”), The Four Trees (“The Dove,” “ASA,”), and Tertia (“Concrescence,” “Sycamore”).
As one might imagine, a hometown show in front of a hometown crowd benefitting survivors of such harrowing and traumatic circumstance lends to a performance that fires across all emotional cylinders. Live At Old South Church captures CASPIAN amidst such catharsis and healing, fully encapsulating the confident triumph and jubilant exhilarations found within songs such as “Last Rites” and “ASA” and the delicate, introspective beauty present in the melodies that shape “Sycamore” and “The Dove.” If transcendence is the goal of any given live performance, then mission accomplished.
