24 August 2026

SPIRAL GALAXY – II [2026, LP/CD, Cardinal Fuzz (UK) / Feeding Tube Records (USA)]

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Cardinal Fuzz (UK) / Feeding Tube Records (USA)

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Galactic Sky Mist Vinyl, 300 copies

Format: CD, Album, Sam Giles CDr Edition (Black vinyl-effect CDr in a card sleeve with paper liner)

Release Date: 24 July 2026

Chicago has always been a fertile ground for musical oddities, but Spiral Galaxy seem to have found a particularly cosmic corner of the Windy City. Following their acclaimed 2020 debut, flutist Sara Gossett and Plastic Crimewave return with “Spiral Galaxy II”, an expansive second voyage that pushes their blend of kosmische music, astral folk, drone and hypnotic minimalism into deeper and stranger territory. Yet this is far from a conventional duo record: the album has grown into a collective psychedelic organism, with Bobby Conn contributing textural treatments, overdubs, vintage percussion and spoken-word passages, alongside appearances from Julie Pomerleau, Drazek Fuscaldo, Jen Powers, Matt Rolin, Jimmy Lacy and Lawrence Peters. Some of these pieces have evolved through years of live performance, while others were reshaped in the studio, giving the album a fascinating sense of movement and transformation. This is music for twilight hours, open horizons and altered states — a record that doesn’t simply invite you to listen, but gently pulls you into its orbit.

“Spiral Galaxy II” contains just 5 tracks. The album opens with “E’ Glynner”, beginning in an almost bucolic fashion, with an earthy, grounded feel and a remarkable flute sound immediately establishing its roots-oriented character. Drone elements hover in the background as the piece slowly develops, and when the rest of the band enters, the whole thing gradually transforms into a magical astral-folk excursion. The influence of Kraut pioneers such as Popol Vuh, Ash Ra, and Gila is unmistakable here, yet the track never rushes towards some predictable climax; instead, it remains suspended in its own hypnotic atmosphere, and that restraint is precisely what makes it so cool. “Wir Fur Sea” introduces a motorik pulse beneath an electronically flavoured kosmische soundscape, with Sara’s flute leading the way while a drifting, drone-heavy electric guitar operates somewhere in the background. Slowly, the repetition builds into a monumental Krauty wall of sound, flirting with Ambient and even New Age territory, while an improvisational spirit and a subtle experimental edge keep the whole journey beautifully unpredictable.

“Axos IV” (opening side B) begins with a deep drone and an old-school drum machine that sounds almost like a wonderfully loose early Kraftwerk demo, before the flute takes command and the band gradually unfolds a spacious, improvised cosmic landscape. There is something serene and wonderfully unrestrained about the piece, with flute and spoken-word passages guiding it deeper into a spiral of intergalactic Kosmische music. This is authentic mind-expanding New Space-Age music — what a trip! “Future Fauna” takes us even further into deep space, Sara’s flute once again leading a droney voyage through a serene sonic landscape touched by a distant kosmische glow. The flute introduces an almost bucolic quality, creating a fascinating contrast with the vastness surrounding it, while the music deliberately refuses to undergo any dramatic transformation, maintaining its hypnotic state right through to the final note and becoming a seriously heady drone experience. Finally, “Umbra” may be the shortest piece on the record, but at just 2:49 it leaves one hell of an impression. An amazing, almost unbelievable Krauty-kosmische excursion, it sounds like a lost or previously unreleased track from a particularly inspired Gila session — and yes, it really is that good. Space, drone, folk elements and experimental psychedelia collide in one final, beautifully condensed burst of cosmic magic!

With “Spiral Galaxy II”, Sara Gossett and Plastic Crimewave have created a record that feels like a continuous passage through some distant musical dimension. Flute, drone, motorik rhythms, electronics and astral folk merge into a beautifully strange kosmische language, equally rooted in the earth and reaching towards the stars. Patient, hypnotic and genuinely mind-expanding, this is a record to be experienced rather than simply heard — a wonderful trip for anyone willing to step into its orbit. Dig! TimeLord Michalis