Kaivon achieves his spiritual ‘Awakening’ on debut studio LP
Kaivon‘s debut album is finally here.
Six years after his debut release, “Reborn,” the producer’s first full-length LP, Awakening, has arrived. The 11-track album showcases Kaivon’s signature ambient future-bass sound while allowing him to wade deeper into trap territory than we’ve previously seen. A grip of singles, including “Lost,” “Love Is Blind,” and “Hollywood Hills” preceded Awakening as singles, giving fans early glimpses into the direction the Los Angeles-based producer was trending.
The story behind Awakening is a deeply personal one for Kaivon, wearing the producer’s emotions on its sleeve. Even with a relative track record of success, for Kaivon, hitting rock bottom was the catalyst for creating his most important work to date. “I drank and did drugs one night and came home feeling the most miserable I’ve ever felt in a long time,” says Kaivon. “I had felt this low before, but this time it felt different.” It was a feeling he never wanted to feel again, and while it may have seemed like that feeling had contributed—in part—to how he got there, it was time to give all of that up.
Making the decision to get sober was an easy one for Kaivon, but there were other aspects of his personal life that would be more difficult to address.
“Quitting drinking wasn’t hard, dealing with my emotions and mental health after was the real challenge,” he admits.
After therapy sessions seemed to wane in effectiveness, the Lowly-signed beatmaker wasn’t sure where to turn for help. But then, at his grandfather’s funeral, someone mentioned The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and he felt compelled to read it. Afterwards, the “Free Falling” producer described feeling “a sense of security and peace for the first time,” as one quote from Tolle resonated with particular weight:
“To realize you are not your thoughts, is when you begin to awaken spiritually.”
The quote spoke to Kaivon in a deeply personal way. He explains, “I’ve always identified with my thoughts and struggled with my thoughts dominating my sense of happiness. I [felt like it] had made me a bad person. I’ve learned that I am not my thoughts. That I am the observer of my thoughts. This is a comforting thought and helped me begin to awaken.”
From Kaivon’s own personal actualization, came his debut album Awakening. Optimistically, he celebrates the project’s completion, explaining, “I hope that the album inspires an awakening within the people listening to it because I think it came from my true self. A music project has never felt so right.”
Now two years sober, Kaivon prepares to embark on a 19-stop album tour, he’s partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) in an effort to give back to those in need, just as he used to be; a partnership Kaivon called an honor. “The overall message that I hope people take away from Awakening is to remind them that they are never alone and everyone has a beautiful purpose in life.” At each stop on tour, there will be staff on hand to hand out resources and to talk to those interested in learning more about the AFSP. Kaivon’s debut album Awakening is out now via Lowly. Tickets for his album tour can be purchased here.
Featured image: Emma Paige Media
Categories: Music