King Gizzard Drummer CAVS Takes A ‘Sojourn’

During some rare downtime from his day job as the drummer in Australia’s King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh has readied his second solo album under the CAVS moniker, Sojourn, for an April 24 release on the band’s p(doom) label. Hear first single “Candiru” below.

“Sojourn began as a sample-based beat tape that Cavs had been chipping away at between Gizz commitments,” says co-producer Jim Rindfleish. “Even in its demo form, the material had a distinctly visual quality. We kept returning to the image of waking up on an uncharted island, covered in dense jungles, waterfalls and glittering caves. As that vision developed, the material began to resemble the forms of various mystical and undiscovered fauna and flora.”

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Cavanagh released his solo debut, CAVS, in 2021, although it didn’t stray far beyond a drum-based approach. As such, “the next logical step for Cavs (in my mind) was to step up as a band leader and sole songwriter,” notes Rindfleish. “After deciding to record it all with real instruments and players, we began to tap into an aspect of Cavs’ musicality that has perhaps yet to fully surface as the drummer for Gizz. As drummers, we understood each other completely, hearing music in a very similar way. We wanted this record to feel like a journey through Cavs’ rhythmic imagination.”

Listeners will hear nods to legends such as Billy Cobham, Harvey Mason, Tony Williams and Tony Allen as well as detours into “spiritual jazz, progressive rock and Krautrock.” Beyond King Gizzard bandmate Joey Walker, contributors included Melbourne-based musicians Adam Halliwell (flute/guitar), Siwei Wong (harp), Archibald Pommelhorse (saxophone), Selene Messinis (keyboards) and Robbin Poppins (percussion). What’s more, Cavanagh is planning to perform the album live with some of the musicians later this year.

King Gizzard’s only 2026 shows will take place Aug. 14-16 at its Field of Vision festival in Colorado and Aug. 20-22 in Forest Hills, N.Y. Group member Stu Mackenzie recently told Turkish PhD researcher Şebnem Altunkaya in an interview that Gizzard is “making techno and bluegrass at the moment. Not at the same time. Well… not yet…”

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