Jasper Llewellyn of caroline puts out his first solo single, 'For The Teacher'

Jasper Llewellyn, a founding member and drummer of the British post-rock band caroline, has released his debut solo single, "For The Teacher," out now via Rough Trade Records.

The seven-minute track grew out of years of scattered writing sessions. "The song is a big patchwork of different ideas and eras of me writing songs spanning five-plus years," Llewellyn said, describing a common thread of reaching for ideals that always stay just out of grasp.

The title refers to his Buddhist teacher, Maitreyabandhu. The first two minutes of the album version set Maitreyabandhu's own poetry over the music, drawn from a forthcoming book-length elegy for his own teacher, Bhante Sangharakshita. That passage does not appear in the radio edit. Llewellyn called the release "an offering of sorts," acknowledging what he described as a chain of teachers and students that the song sits inside.

caroline's most recent album, caroline 2, was Stereogum's Album of the Week last year, and the band has kept expanding outward since. Bandmate Magdalena Mclean has been releasing her own music as Curbside Lambsear, and Llewellyn's solo turn continues that pattern of the indie rock group's members stepping out on their own.

Llewellyn will play his first run of solo shows this autumn, opening for My New Band Believe across Europe before headlining Horse Hospital in London on November 6 and Cafe Oto on November 9.