On Cale Anderson’s latest record, Yemaya (We All Come from the Goddess), the sacred is blending perfectly with the electronic, blending the sacred with the electronic to create music that feels less like a traditional listening experience and more like a private, transcendent ritual. We sat down with Cale to talk about the journey behind crafting such a deeply personal, genre-defying project.
By Jane Howkins
How has your year been so far?
What’s really defined 2026 for me is my collaborative partnership with Sara Gsilva. Yemaya (We All Come from the Goddess) draws from our co-creative world too, and Sara designed the album artwork.
Our co-creative world revolves around musical projects like New Cicle and Yemaya, but particularly the custom upcycled clothing that Sara makes for me. We’re releasing a limited run of New Cicle cardigans that will come in and out of availability over the next few years through my store and Bandcamp.
I see the things Sara and I create as belonging to this larger world. I hold her personal contributions to my wardrobe almost like artifacts of an aesthetic that I can actually wear and use to give myself a strong sense of identity and individuality. Things like my green pearl cardigan and gemstone cardigan. I’ve got a red cardigan coming for my personal collection soon, and a grey one too.
Her artwork for my records does both things at once: it captures something that was already there in the music, but it also adds another flavour to what the records sound like.
I’ve also had some unexpected success with the rollout of Yemaya. I’ve had some pretty nifty press written about the project, along with interviews, articles and reviews. There was an Instagram review in particular that was a really nice surprise, because I felt like it showcased what the album was actually about.
Something that really made me think, “Oh, people are actually paying attention to this,” though, was my mum’s opinion of it. Every single thing I do, I didn’t do right if my mother doesn’t enjoy it. Haha.
It hasn’t all been great. One disappointment was discovering that my Spotify had been hit with artificial streams when I thought I was paying for a legitimate Google Ads promotion. That really annoyed me. But overall, this has been a very creatively active year.
You have a new album out called Yemaya (We All Come from the Goddess). What can you tell us about the album? How has the reception been so far?**
If you’ve never heard me before, and particularly if you’ve never heard Yemaya, one of the first things you’ll probably notice is the vocals. They’re very raw and, a lot of the time, slightly wobbling around being out of key. Vocally, I’d describe it as some strange mixture of The National, Sun Kil Moon and Dead Can Dance.
Instrumentally, there are moments that remind me a bit of Depeche Mode, particularly on Mother of Souls and the introductory track, We All Come from the Goddess. I actually utilised the PPG Wave 2.3 at one point in the latter, which is a synthesiser associated with that era of Depeche Mode.
What makes the record unusual to me is its unsettling instrumentation. A lot of the instruments are tuned at slightly differing frequencies, accompanied by very raw vocals and lyrics that instill this quiet weirdness.
At its core, I’d probably call it folktronica/art pop. I’ve also used the term ‘pseudo-folktronica’ because I wanted to escape the folktronica label a little bit while simultaneously admitting that, yeah, it’s kind of folktronica.
I did hear from one person who completely misunderstood what I was doing with the tuning. They dismissed the 444 Hz/528 Hz spiritual stuff as nonsense. The reason I’d say they misunderstood the record isn’t necessarily because they’re wrong to be sceptical about those ideas. It’s because that wasn’t really the point.
I tuned instruments between roughly 443 Hz and 445 Hz because I wanted this uneasy feeling, almost as though I was jamming with a band whose instruments were all very slightly out of tune with one another. It wasn’t because I was trying to tell everybody that 444 Hz is inherently divine or anything.
Although I actually do kinda believe in that stuff.
There’s humour in this record. It doesn’t take itself completely seriously.
Now that it’s out in the world and I’ve listened to it a lot myself, I see Yemaya as a particular turning point in my career as an independent musician. It’s a record I’ll draw from and learn from every step of the way as I create from this point forward.
Yemaya (We All Come from the Goddess) is an interesting title. Can you tell us more about the spiritual inspiration behind it?
It all started in early 2015, so about ten or eleven years ago now. I attended a festival called Yemaya, and that was my introduction to the title.
At the festival, I danced with fire twirlers, played people’s guitars and took a lot of substances that caused a break from reality. My own world of Yemaya started building itself in my head from there.
Over the years, I began singing the name Yemaya in my songs almost like hymns or mantras. My connection to that word became something sacred to me, but it was born from delusion rather than religion.
I later learned that Yemaya is the name of a goddess within existing religious traditions. I mean no disrespect whatsoever to those traditions with what I write here or what I created on the record. I didn’t know about that religious meaning when my own association with the word began.
Over the years, Yemaya became a core part of my own world-building. Eventually that resulted in this huge creative outburst which became the songs on Yemaya (We All Come from the Goddess).
The chant I sing during the first couple of minutes of We All Come from the Goddess is a Wiccan chant that I used to sing around sacred fires at Rainbow Gathering-like events. That includes an actual Rainbow Gathering, as well as festivals and gatherings such as ConFest and Burning Seed.
As a title, though, Yemaya is deliberately impossible to completely pin down. I hope the word can mean more things within the context of the record than somebody might assume from their first conclusion.
As for where sincere spiritual belief ends and artistic play begins on this record, I don’t really think there is a boundary.
My beliefs may not sound consistent, but I like it that way.
Do you consider yourself to be religious or spiritual at all?
I started off as a Gnostic, then became a fundamentalist Christian for about a year, and these days I identify as agnostic because I cannot know anything for certain.
I believe there are certain things about my life that I’m simply not meant to know.
I definitely believe in an afterlife, where all my friends and galactic tribe who aren’t on Earth at the minute reside, and I have other core beliefs like that. But I’ll still label myself agnostic until I’m on the other side, because I guess I just can’t know for sure.
If somebody genuinely asked me, “Cale, what do you actually believe?”, I’d tell them I believe I have a high spiritual ranking. I believe I have friends in high places. I believe in an unknowable God born of pure energy and vibration.
I’d tell them that I believe the goodness of the heart is reflected on the outside in the day-to-day world, and that we all get second chances.
I don’t necessarily believe in deities as gods or goddesses in the traditional sense, and I feel like humans have the highest spiritual rank of all created beings born of energy.
This is probably contradicting my statement that I’m agnostic, so I’ll stop talking now. Haha.
I’m completely comfortable believing something while simultaneously questioning whether it’s real.
You’ve released a few singles this year already. Are there any more singles due out anytime soon?
What’s coming next, aside from Song for Emma – an homage to the lead singer of Men I Trust, my celeb crush – is a couple of as-yet-untitled acoustic songs.
I’m also planning on doing something with the Behringer Wave soon, which is a modern recreation inspired by the PPG Wave synthesisers.
People can expect to hear the acoustic songs very, very soon. I’d say within about a month. Then people can probably expect the Wave synthesiser song, and potentially more music exploring that sound, around late 2026 into early 2027.
Aside from those, expect some surprise drops over the next little while. I like randomly dropping stuff without warning. It’s what I’ve always done and probably what I’ll always do.
The singles following Yemaya belong to the post-Yemaya era for me. For the most part, they’re not intended to be reflective of that album.
Have you started writing for your next record, or is it too soon yet? You seem quite prolific!
Thanks for seeing me as quite prolific, Jane. That’s a high compliment.
I’m deliberately avoiding thinking in terms of albums right now, although I can see a potential album release happening later in the year.
I’ve actually already released Dreaming of Hedgehogs since Yemaya. It’s available on my Bandcamp and is also due to have a vinyl/CD release through ElasticStage.
What’s pulling me creatively right now is equipment more than some grand album concept. I’m really interested in the Medieval sampler by Teenage Engineering, the Behringer JN-80 for those Juno sounds, the Behringer Wave I mentioned earlier and, funnily enough, Behringer’s Modded Out Acid Bassline generator.
My opinion of Behringer’s instruments has vastly changed over the years. I went from thinking they were a crappy company that made bad mixers because the first thing I bought from them had a fault, to seeing them as this synthesiser-recreation mega house spawning great recreations at a fraction of the cost.
Conceptually, I’ve been flirting with writing more romantic lyrics lately, but that could completely change over the coming months.
As for why I release so much music, songs tend to come quickly to me, almost out of thin air sometimes. I dislike sitting on finished material, and creating is a little bit compulsive for me in some ways.
I don’t usually consciously maintain the output. It just happens.
You’re from Australia. What is the local music scene like in your area?
It’s alright. I think Australia can be particularly bad for something we call ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’, where somebody sees that you’re accomplishing something and feels the need to tear you down rather than celebrate it. That’s something I’ve encountered and it can make creative life here frustrating.
At the same time, an incredible amount of talent comes out of Australia. Some honourable mentions for me would be Karnivool, John Butler Trio, Tash Sultana and Parcels. They’re amazing Australian acts, and several of them have built enormous audiences internationally rather than relying solely on Australia as their source of fans.
I don’t actually feel like I’m part of the Australian music scene at the moment.
But I’m making strides to change that.
I plan on busking and hitting open-mic nights around Melbourne with my little brother over the coming years. Hopefully that’ll get me more involved with other musicians and the local community.
And hopefully I can manifest a band!
Who are your main musical influences and what have you been listening to recently?
Thomas Dybdahl has been a huge influence on me over the last several years. He directly inspired songs of mine like Pretty Faced and My Own Human. He’s also the artist behind But We Did, which is a lovely song.
Someone I can trace my guitar playing directly back to is Damien Rice. Pretty much every fingerpicking pattern I have comes from one of Damien’s performances in some way. His influence goes all the way back to when I first started taking guitar seriously, when I was about fourteen or fifteen and still in high school.
Glen Hansard has had a lasting impression on me too, God rest his soul. I’ll never forget what his music did for me during a time when I needed it.
The interesting thing is that these artists don’t necessarily have much to do with the overall sound of most of my recorded music. They’re the people who helped shape the person who eventually made that music.
The National, Sun Kil Moon and Dead Can Dance have influenced parts of my music as well.
As for what I’m genuinely listening to right now: Men I Trust.
That’s basically it. I’ve become a super-fan. I listen to them every day, and I’m planning on getting some of their vinyl LPs soon and potentially some merch.
There’s something funny and personal about their song Pierre too. There’s a moment where my brain hears something resembling, “Cale, you’re not alone, there’s a place you can call home.”
That’s obviously my own hearing of it, but it’s beautiful and personal to me.
Do you perform live? Do you plan to tour in the UK anytime soon?
I’ve performed in bands and solo a lot over my lifetime, and I definitely plan on touring the UK within the next several years. It’s a bucket-list item for me.
The issue is that I’m still rather small as an artist right now. I feel like my music needs to make more of an impact on the people around me – or across the world – before I start travelling internationally with it. That’s what I currently feel inclined to do, anyway.
It’s been a few years since I’ve performed live, and I’d love to get back to it. Definitely some open mics, some busking and eventually touring with a band.
Playing with my brother onstage and busking together is part of how I’m learning to become a live performer again.
That said, if somebody offered me a London, Manchester and Glasgow run tomorrow, I’d be pretty tempted to jump at it.
A Cale Anderson live show could take a few different forms. It might be a completely acoustic night, or I could use a loop-pedal setup with a synthesiser, beatboxing and an acoustic guitar. The other possibility is having a jam band playing alongside me, which is ultimately something I’d love to do.
I’d probably get Sara Gsilva involved in the visual side as well. I’d love to have her design a backdrop that I could get made up on a big sheet and hang behind me at gigs – some kind of cosmic sketch, moon face or something strange like that.
I want the visual world to come onto the stage with me.
Any last words for the fans?
Images in the mirror may be closer than they appear.
I may be closer to you than you think, and I think we all meet for a certain special reason. That can be inherently serendipitous or completely spiritual in nature.
Before you feel like you’re doing this alone, remember – you’ve got artists to help you feel a little less alone too. We leave certain postcards, greetings and little love songs behind that you might stumble across at the right time in your life.
So see if you can find some hidden passages or meanings in some of my songs sometime.
Maybe I left something there for you.
Social media: Website, Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Soundcloud, Facebook, TikTok, X, LinkTree, Songkick, Tidal