Khruangbin Surprise Releases New Album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You ii’

Khruangbin kicked off a tour of intimate venues to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album, The Universe Smiles Upon You, last night in their hometown of Houston. The festivities continued today with the surprise release of the reimagined, The Universe Smiles Upon You ii.

The Universe Smiles Upon You arrived exactly 10 years ago on November 6, 2015. As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for the record, Khruangbin re-recorded their debut album and released it today.

Each member of Khruangbin spoke about The Universe Smiles Upon You update with Rolling Stone.

“The thought was like, ‘We’ll just do it all over again,'” bassist Laura Lee Ochoa told RS. “And it will be us 10 years later with the same instruments in the same location, and it’ll be different because we’re different. But as the date neared, it was sort of, ‘Actually, the kids 10 years later would think about the songs as they are today, and not just play them as they were.'”

“I wanted to get really textural with it,” guitarist Mark Speer recalled. “I wanted to come in almost from an ASMR standpoint. I was going to play acoustic guitar on some stuff. I was going to put contact mics and everything, so all the squeaks and the noises and the air in the room has this dusty sound.”

Drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson added: “Houston specifically is woven into the fabric of who we are. Secret’s out now because everyone’s moving here, but Houston has its own unique blend of cultural flavors that meld here.”

Check out the official video for “White Gloves ii” and stream The Universe Smiles Upon You ii below: