The Dutch indie-rock band Kaspar Baum will release their third album Groenland to the public in February 2025. Under the leadership of Erny Green Kaspar Baum has transformed into a distinguished musical act through his role as singer and songwriter and guitarist who guides the band toward atmospheric soundscapes and meaningful lyrics. The music world sees the band successfully maintain its individual space through their combination of post-punk elements with introspective subject matter.
The album title Groenland goes beyond environmental and icy descriptions to express a personal meaning. The recording team discovered the album name while finishing production by utilizing Green’s family name and to commemorate his upcoming 60th birthday. The album unintentionally transmits feelings of arctic desolation at a time when global hostility is high and the world exhibits an emotionally distant atmosphere.
In this current release the album moves its attention toward internal subject matters. The band explores personal themes on Groenland that take a different direction from their political sophomore release World Wide Willow (2024) by addressing addiction (“Fear”) and heartbreak (“Old House”) along with artistic life and existential questions.
The musical signature of Kaspar Baum persists through World Wide Willow with its characteristic basslines and complex guitar arrangements and natural jam sessions that reveal authentic emotional expression. A highlight of the album “Red is Beautiful” arose through spontaneous creativity during a moment of anger which demonstrates the band’s talent for creating outstanding music from adverse situations.
The making of Groenland became clearer when we interviewed Erny Green about the creative approach Kaspar Baum used to develop their songs alongside the development of Baum’s artistry and shifts in the global environment.
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The title “Groenland” immediately evokes images of vast Arctic landscapes.
What drew you to this theme, and how did it influence your creative process?
Well, actually we choose the title ’ Groenland ’ at the end of the proces. Even after the mastering was allready done….. Because my name is Erny ’Green’ and I was celebrating my 60th birthday we were hoping to find a reference with the word ’green’. Our first album was called ’ Vuurland ’ which is the most southern country of South America. So ’Groenland’ being the most Northern country on earth made total sense. Also representing the fact that our times grow colder every second nowadays… So pretty Arctic in that sense!
With environmental concerns about the Arctic becoming increasingly urgent,
does “Groenland” carry any broader message about climate and landscape?
Maybe indirectly, yes. But it is not a real topic on the album. Just a few days after we had choosen Groenland as a title, Donald Trump announced his plans for that country. So that immediately made our title look a bit political. Which the album isn’t…. But of course we are concerned like most of us.
What emotions or experiences were you hoping to capture in “Groenland”?
That’s something we never decide on before we start the writing proces. It’s more that we try to capture the emotions that are in the room while we jam. In hindsight I think you could say that the album turned out to be recalcitrant, dark and romantic.
How does “Groenland” represent your evolution as an artist? Do you see it as a
continuation of your established sound, or does it break new ground?
I released 13 albums over my career. I never intended to make something for the art’s sake. It was always about the story to tell. So in that sense the album is a new chapter in the story.
Our last (second) album for example (“World Wide Willow” , Feb. 2024) was more political than Groenland. When we started writing that album the war in Ukraine had just started and that surely had it’s impact on the process. There’s even a song called ‘War’ on that one. Groenland is more personal, I guess. There’s a song about heroine mis abuse (‘Fear’), one about divorce (“Old
House”), but also songs about the inadequacy of art (and the artist!) in general to make any sense at all. Deeply felt doubts about our vain existence on this lonely planet. There’s actually a statement in the song ‘Comes a Time Comes a Light” that makes it fully clear that this record is not about politics our climate:
“Environmental talk is hot
Another president is shot
I hear you masters care a lot
About all the ones the world forgot
I hear you’re worried, well I’m not
There’s many other things that I can cry for”
Your choice of sounds and arrangements on this album – could you walk us through some of the key musical decisions you made to convey the essence of Greenland?
The way Kaspar Baum works is pretty similar in most cases. I have some lyrics and maybe a melody. We start jamming and Jelmer (drums) and Erwin (bass) give the directions. That’s quite often a very Eighties (Post-Punk) based riff (especially the bass). Rempe (guitar) is all about the delicate esthetics of the songs.
When the riff is evolving, he won’t be available for 30 minutes, but always lands back on earth with the most beautiful melodies. Actually, the lyrics have to battle those lingering guitars, which gives Kaspar Baum that vibrant tension.
Can you tell us about a particular moment during the creation of “Groenland” that surprised you or took the track in an unexpected direction?
That was while writing “Red is Beautiful”. We had been jamming in our studio ( Vuurland Studio ) on a certain (kind of folky) theme for over an hour and got so bored and depressed with it that we were at the break of skipping the whole idea.
With only ten minutes of rehearsal time left we sort of dumped all our frustration in one last jam that was so fucked up that it had all the ingredients to finally make it work. I had all instruments miked out, so I was able to mess around with the jam in post-production. The result was something that we couldn’t have predict. It turned out to be the first single of the album.
