The single sets the tone for Sárga erdő (“Yellow Forest”), a twelve-track album Kátai describes as carrying no single unifying story—only a felt sense of wandering back through old, half-remembered time. It’s the first THY CATAFALQUE record built around a live drummer rather than programmed rhythm, drawing on thirty-four musicians and a twenty-voice male choir, with the folk and classical instrumentation—piano, strings, brass, sitar, kamancheh, zither—handled with more restraint than on the maximalist XII.

Kátai shot the “Búcsú a piros madártól” video himself, in the woodland ten minutes’ walk from his family home in Makó, beside the river Maros—the same stretch of ground where the band’s very first video was filmed twenty-five years ago, and where another is already in the works. Live footage from Thy Catafalque’s shows in Brazil, France and Hungary is cut together with hand-made and digital animation, left rough by design. “I wanted to keep it that way,” Kátai says, “because it has a more personal touch, and it’s somehow important to keep imperfections and a human vibe in this era of AI taking over art.”

Tracklist:
1. Búcsú a piros madártól (06:04)
2. Ég-anyám, föld-apám (04:28)
3. Dunnák alatt kék mező (04:04)
4. Szitakötő (01:10)
5. Suhamló éji fák (05:04)
6. Puszta (04:58)
7. Sirató (03:58)
8. Cseremisz (04:05)
9. Sárga erdő (10:15)
10. Tömbök (04:59)
11. Kút vizén nap forog (04:06)
12. 87 tavasz, 87 ősz (10:52)

Full runtime: 01:04:03

Line-up:
Tamás Kátai — Guitar, Bass, Keyboards & Vocals

Guest Musicians:
Martina Veronika Horváth — Vocals (9, 12)
Ivett Dudás — Vocals (3, 10, 11)
Gábor Dudás — Vocals (2, 5, 11, 12)
Bálint Bokodi — Vocals (1, 8, 9)
Annamari Oláh — Vocals (6)
Lambert Lédeczy — Vocals (6)
Gergely Balla — Vocals (7)
Gábor Veres — Vocals (10)
Antal Cseh — Bass/Baritone Vocals (12)
The Male Choir of Tiszaföldvár — choir (8)
Anikó Für — Prose (5)
Árpád Szenti — Drums & Percussion
Krisztián Varga — Lead Guitar (1, 5, 6, 9, 10)
Zoltán Vigh — Lead Guitar (10)
Breno Machado — Lead Guitar (12)
Daniele Belli — Classical Guitar (12)
Anikó Barna — Citera & Koboz (8)
Chithrinie Nirupama — Sitar (4)
Peter Voronov — Violin (5)
Maria Grigoryeva — Violin (5)
Victor Morales — Violin & Piano (9)
Oleg Bezuglov — Violin (12)
Michaela Lilla Bos — Cello (9)
Francesco Pisciotta — String Arrangement (11)
Noam Dayan — Kamancheh (1)
Dmitry Karev — Accordion (8)
Dario Cei — Flute (8, 10)
Brandon Wilkins — Bassoon & Alto Flute (2)
Dan Rowland — Oboe d’Amore (7)
Kelly O’Donohue — Trumpet, Trombone & Flugelhorn (9, 11, 12)
Michele Fortunato — Trombone (12)
Patricio Böttcher — Alto Saxophone (3)
Efim Braylovskiy — Alto Saxophone (9)
Ibrahim Danbaba — Saxophone (11)

Recorded in various locations and Miracle Sound Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.

Produced by Tamás Kátai; Sound Engineer, Mixing & Mastering by Gábor Vári (Miracle Sound Szeged).

Cover Art:
Tamás Kátai