Stream Knifeplay’s new Spirit Echo EP

When Knifeplay appeared at the shoegaze festival Slide Away in Philadelphia earlier this year, they played profoundly different songs from their studio material. The tracks were less intense, turning away from the fuzzy bursts that defined 2022’s Animal Drowning.

Today, the Philly outfit are sharing that work officially with a two-song EP called Spirit Echo. They wrote the title track after Animal Drowning, which is a stunning continuation of their collaboration with Jeff Zeigler that’s more influenced by ambient and folk, stretching out across nine-and-a-half minutes. The other song is a tender cover of Noel Thrasher’s “Cry Babies,” further demonstrating their fresh direction.

Read more: Fan poll: 5 best shoegaze bands of all time

“It’s funny because I feel with the first two records, I fell into this habit of building to these climaxes, and it became our sound,” vocalist/guitarist TJ Strohmer told AP this past summer. “Now I’m trying to challenge myself to create more of a singular vibe and not have the volume or the intensity — having the song rely more on the melody, the lyrics. It’s song by song, but instead of going from zero to 10, now we’re going from two to five. You feel the dynamics of the song, but it’s not this explosion.”

Stream Knifeplay’s new Spirit Echo EP below.