KHRUANGBIN – Universe Smiles Upon You II (color) 2LP

Opis

If you could travel ten years into the past, what would you want to tell your younger self? This was a question Khruangbin asked themselves as they approached the ten-year anniversary of their debut album — the former cult classic that is now considered genre-defining: The Universe Smiles Upon You. “If we could go back and tell ourselves how much would come our way after this album, what would we want to celebrate?” asked Laura Lee, bassist, vocalist, and founding member of the band.
Instead, they thought: Let’s do it again.

The Universe Smiles Upon You II was recorded from January 4 to 6, 2025 in the same family barn belonging to guitarist Mark Speer, on the very same days when TUSUY first came into being ten years earlier. Although the conditions were the same — dirt floor, brutally cold, minimal soundproofing, everything recorded live — the songs are not. They were re-approached, some changed more than others, capturing the original album’s “lightning in a bottle” energy while also discovering what would be unique this time, at this stage in the band’s life.

The result moves like waves on water across ten hypnotic tracks — the barn creates a sense of spaciousness, calm, and creative freedom; the nearby wildlife is audible (listen for the birds on “August Twelve II”), as is the creaking and rattling of the barn itself. It is a tapestry of small motions within nuanced arrangements that slowly reveals the new life, stories, and character of someone you’re meeting again for the first time after ten years.