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

Rob Moderelli on November 6, 2025

Khruangbin, photo by Jackie Lee Young

Khruangbin have released The Universe Smiles Upon You ii, a surprise re-recording of their first studio album, celebrating the project’s 10th anniversary. A decade to the day after the pioneering psych-funk trio shared its groundbreaking debut, the revisited version documents the crystallization of its eclectic musical tastes into a singular, genre-defying sound and style. With a new sequence and subtle changes throughout, the band expressed their current perspective, reflecting on their origins to chart a course forward.

“The thought was like, ‘We’ll just do it all over again. 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,’” Laura Lee Ochoa told Rolling Stone in a new interview. “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. That’s not who we are.’”

Khruangbin cut The Universe Smiles Upon You ii in the same Central Texas barn that’s been the source for the lion’s share of their catalog. Rather than reverently holding to the details of their debut, Ochoa, Mark Speer and DJ Johnson opted to generously imbue their new renditions with insights accrued in the years since, simultaneously steering into high-shine hooks and embracing fluid improvisation. The trio’s playful and deliberate angle is apparent from the first track, which substitutes original opener “Mr. White” for the fan-favorite Japan-exclusive bonus track “Bin Bin”; a Japanese edition of the CD will include the updated outtake at “M. Blanc.”

In October, Khruangbin announced their plans to mark 10 years of The Universe Smiles Upon You with a new series of intimate club shows. From Nov. 5-25, they’ll deliver 15 close-quarters performances across the country, including underplays at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer, New York’s Webster Hall, Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club, Chicago’s Metro, San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom, Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre and a two-night kickoff from The Heights Theater in their Houston hometown.

The Universe Smiles Upon You ii is available on all streaming platforms, with vinyl and CD packages available to pre-order. Watch a new music video for “White Gloves ii” below, and read on for the album’s full tracklist.

Read more about Khruangbin’s history in the band’s 2024 Relix feature and their 2020 cover story.