Vespera: Restoring The Thoughts That Plague You and Redefining Independence (Email Interview) 10/3/26
Few records get a second life the way Vespera's The Thoughts That Plague You is getting one. Originally released across three EPs in 2020–2021, the album is now being presented as the complete fourteen-song work it was written to be. Born in Seattle and shaped by years of Los Angeles history, Vespera blends atmosphere, melody, vulnerability, and weight in a way that refuses to sit neatly inside one genre. I caught up with the band's founder, Casval, to talk about how it all started, the influences behind the sound, the making of the record, and what it really takes to keep going as an independent artist.
How Vespera Came Together
Jenny: How did the band come together, and how did you arrive at your current sound?
Casval: Vespera began in Seattle in 2016 after I moved there from Los Angeles and became involved with The Alchemy Index. As that situation started falling apart, I began writing the demos that became Vespera. I showed them to Jon, who came out to Bethesda while I was recording. Cairn had gone to school with Jon and was the first person to email when we put out word that we needed a guitarist.
I wanted somewhere that all my musical interests could coexist. Ethereal, enigmatic, and aggressive were the feelings I was chasing. The relationship between atmosphere, melody, vulnerability and weight mattered more to me than fitting neatly into a genre.
Jenny: Where are you from, and how has that shaped who you are as a band?
Casval: Vespera came together in Seattle, and Los Angeles is also a major part of our history. I had moved from Los Angeles to Seattle when the ideas that became the band started taking shape. The project grew through those connections rather than arriving as a complete lineup with everything already figured out.
Where the Sound Comes From
Jenny: Who were your biggest musical influences growing up, and which ones still show up in your work today?
Casval: Deftones, Glassjaw, and Thrice were enormous in shaping the instincts behind Vespera. They showed me different ways heaviness, melody, atmosphere, and vulnerability could exist together. But I was also carrying around Frou Frou, Mew, The Cure, and MUTEMATH. Earth, Wind & Fire is my answer if someone makes me choose one favorite artist.
I don't separate those interests in my head, so I don't want to separate them artificially when I'm writing either.
Restoring The Thoughts That Plague You
Jenny: Walk me through the writing and recording process for your latest release. Where did it start, and how did it evolve?
Casval: The important distinction is that The Thoughts That Plague You isn't a newly recorded 2026 album. These recordings originally came out across three EPs in 2020–2021. We've restored the fourteen-song sequence the record was written to have.
The album began on my TE-407 seven-string in Drop Ab. I wrote and produced it in Pro Tools. We experimented with a lot of guitar tones before landing on Metal Amp Room, and I recorded the bass using the Warwick that had been used on Periphery's P2.
Several people helped translate what was in my head. Spencer Sotelo engineered my vocals on "Paradise" and "Obsidian Dreams." Taylor Larson and Will Beasley recorded a lot of the topline work. I had written the original drum ideas in TabIt, and Ernie Slenkovich gave those ideas life.
What has evolved now is the opportunity around the music. The record was finished; its opportunity to exist as the complete work was what had been interrupted.
Jenny: Is there a track on the record that means the most to you personally, and why?
Casval: Two stand out to me for different reasons.
There's something about "Fading Light" that stays with me. It feels like a subtle indication of where Vespera is headed; I can hear the direction the band is evolving toward within that song.
"Paradise" means a lot because of the JED Foundation campaign and the conversations it has opened up. Those conversations have become part of what makes the song meaningful to me.
Jenny: What do you want listeners to take away from this project?
Casval: I'd love people to hear the emotional progression across the whole record. A lot of it was me trying to understand things before I had the language or distance to understand them: exploitation, addiction, nostalgia, self-sacrifice, anger, recovery, and learning where your responsibility for other people ends.
Someone discovering it today doesn't have the same history attached to it that I do. They just hear a song, and it can become part of an entirely different experience in their life. That's one of the most exciting things about giving it another chance to be heard.
Writing Process and Creative Habits
Jenny: Do you write collaboratively, or does it usually start with one person bringing something to the table?
Casval: I was the sole writer and producer of The Thoughts That Plague You, so that record started with ideas I brought in. That doesn't mean it happened in isolation. Other musicians and engineers helped turn those ideas into the finished recordings. My perspective on independence has changed, too. I still care deeply about ownership and artistic direction, but independence shouldn't mean doing every job alone. I want talented people around the band with the resources and trust to help it go farther.
Jenny: How do you know when a song is finished?
Casval: I feel like that goalpost moves every single time.
There's usually a point in my writing where I start removing things and trying to let the song breathe more. When I reach that stage, I know I'm getting toward the end of the creative process, even if the exact finishing point is different for every song.
Jenny: What does your typical writing environment look like? Do you need specific conditions to create?
Casval: It's like capturing lightning in a bottle; an idea can come to me at any moment.
The important thing is to catch it somehow, whether that means recording a voice memo or writing down whatever comes to mind. Then it's about having the discipline to return to it later and see what I can do with it.
Independence, the Scene, and the Industry
Jenny: What's the hardest part of being an independent artist right now?
Casval: Building something sustainable without destroying yourself to keep it alive. For us, it wasn't one setback. It was the accumulation of lost touring opportunities, COVID, rising costs, and other problems until we had to ask whether continuing under those conditions was responsible.
Persistence doesn't have to mean repeatedly sacrificing your wellbeing to prove how much you care. Sometimes stopping, surviving, learning and building resources is what gives the music a chance to exist later. That changed how I think about independence.
Jenny: What do you think the music scene in your area gets right, and what does it get wrong?
Casval: Haha, I live in Los Angeles, so this could become an entire interview.
There's an incredible amount of talent here, and I love being surrounded by people who take their craft seriously.
Something I think we need to work on is making live shows financially viable for artists. Expenses keep climbing, and some venue arrangements make it really difficult for an independent act to put together the show they want to give people. You can have the music, the musicians, and the willingness to do the work, and still struggle to make the numbers work.
Venues have their own costs to cover, too. I'd like to see more collaboration around how we make this sustainable for everyone involved. A healthy scene needs room for artists to develop an audience over time, and they need to be able to afford to keep showing up.
Jenny: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Casval: The idea that suffering enough is proof that you deserve a career. There is a romantic version of this business where you sacrifice everything, and eventually the universe rewards you. I don't believe that anymore.
I want a healthier version of independence: keeping the music and the project ours while working with exceptional people who make it stronger. Doing twelve jobs alone isn't necessarily freedom. Building something that can sustain the people making it matters much more to me now.
What's Next for Vespera
Jenny: What's next? Are you already thinking about what comes after this release?
Casval: Absolutely. Giving this record its proper chance is also what excites me about moving beyond it. I don't want to spend the next ten years recreating something I wrote as a kid.
We're rebuilding Vespera, creating new music and working toward touring properly again. I don't have dates to announce here. Right now I want people to discover the songs and genuinely care, so each next step becomes a little more possible.
Huge thanks to Casval for taking the time to answer these questions so openly. The Thoughts That Plague You is out now in its complete fourteen-song form, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the band goes next.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Go check out my review of the EP Trilogy here: Vespera EP Trilogy - review
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