Sojourn is the second solo album by Michael "CAVS" Cavanagh, drummer for Australian psych-rock powerhouse King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, released on April 24, 2026 via King Gizzard's own p(doom) Records. Where his 2021 self-titled debut was a bold but limited drum-and-percussion-only exercise, Sojourn marks a decisive step forward: Cavanagh's debut as a bandleader, sole songwriter, and arranger, working with a full ensemble to realize a vividly conceived concept album. Co-producer Jim Rindfleish of Melbourne's Mildlife explains that the album began as a sample-based beat tape Cavanagh chipped away at between Gizz commitments, developing around the recurring image of "waking up on an uncharted island, covered in dense jungles, waterfalls and glittering caves" — and as the concept matured, each track came to embody "the forms of various mystical and undiscovered fauna and flora." The resulting 10-track, 40-minute record is entirely instrumental, drawing on spiritual jazz, progressive rock, and Krautrock, with touchstones in the drummer-led recordings of Billy Cobham, Harvey Mason, Tony Williams, and Tony Allen.The ensemble Cavanagh assembled for the album is drawn primarily from the Melbourne music community: Adam Halliwell (flute and guitar) and Jim Rindfleish from Mildlife, Siwei Wong on harp, Archibald Pommelhorse on saxophone, Selene Messinis on keyboards, and Robbin Poppins on percussion, with King Gizzard bandmate Joey Walker moonlighting on bass. The tracklist navigates an imaginary tropical world through titles like "Victoria Amazonica," "Emerald Nile," "Boitatá," "Candiru," and "Paititi" — each one a distinct sonic environment. Occult Magazine, which named it Album of the Month for April, compared the record to spiritual jazz in the vein of Herbie Hancock or a jungle-themed Medeski, Martin & Wood outing, highlighting opener "Victoria Amazonica" for its "purring flutes, twinkling keys and swirling harps" and praising "Death Bat" for its harrowing undertones delivered through bouncy tempos and exhilarating electronics. Glide Magazine called it "captivating from the jump and even more so with every listen," positioning Cavanagh as "a singular force of imaginative proportions" in the contemporary jazz revival scene.
