And it’s been out since July! Nevertheless, my efforts to try to keep up with my dissertation efforts did not allow me to post anything decent here or anywhere else for that matter.

First off, Calitys is three of us: Mara Lasi, Daniele Serra (previously Chirleison and Medusa’s Spell) and myself. Mara and Daniele got in touch in Autumn 2020, in those still freshly pandemic times, and proposed to work on some pieces they had drafted. Mara’s piano passages and Dani’s guitar laments felt just right as a space for fantastic images to grow. We exchanged the vision of what this whole album could sound like and so it started. End of that year and the beginning of next I had a couple of other albums in line to be finalised, Gedulo vartai among them. After that one, grief had my heart and I was a bit scared I won’t have the energy needed for Calitys. But writing texts for our Songs of Unearthly Longing suddenly opened a space for reverie and healing, such that only imagined worlds can. And so it went.

If you’re the kind of person that listens to lyrics, I invite you to discover that world, which hosts the elves and spiders that Mara cradles in the forests, ghosts and shadows that Daniele draws in his visual work, and magical creatures in mythical places I go to when I need to remap my inner world. The album also reflects our shared love and care for the very real and collapsing world that is, in essence, ensuring the life of each of us. Active engagement in actions, education and research regarding the world we co-cultivate is something that myself and Mara share.

The name of the band – Calitys – comes from a beetle Calitys scabra. It’s a beetle that inhabits old spruce, fir and pine. They are nearly invisible – adult individuals’ exoskeleton mimics the tree bark covered with lichen. These beetles are losing their habitat due to deforestation, and are facing the threat of extinction. The name was proposed by Mara, our fairy of the forest, the only one of us that could recognise the Calitys scabra when she sees one.

Here’s our full info:

Daina Dieva – vocals, guitar, field-recordings
Mara Lasi – piano, organ
Daniele Serra – voice, acoustic and electric guitar, samples

All music composed and performed by Calitys
All lyrics by Daina Dieva

Mixed at “Neurohabitat studio” by the brilliant S. Balestrazzi (TAC, Kirlian Camera, Dream Weapon Ritual)

Design, layout, font art by Daniele Serra
Photos by Daina Dieva

Released 14th July by Cyclic Law