Vol. II moves with a strange, weightless momentum, each track bleeding into the next without ever settling.

Spacey duo Angine de Poitrine, who remain anonymous under their names Khn and Klek, are set to release their second studio album, Vol. II, on April 3rd.

Vol. II continues the absurdity of their 2024 debut. There’s a free, unbothered energy running through it, amplified by the costumes they’ve become known for. On stage, they wear papier-mâché hats, and speak a language only they can understand. Those same costumes, seen again playing in front of a pyramid in their new album’s artwork, have become a crucial part of their hidden identity.

The band's sound is somewhere between psychedelic rock and absurdism, but in Vol. II the duo sound more confident, with bolder structures and an even more incessant groove.

Whether it’s Khn’s microtonal guitar or the unpredictable rhythms wrapped around each track, Vol.II feels beautifully alien. The band recently gained fame after a viral KEXP live session, and they’ve carried that momentum into this record. It’s hard to tell whether the album wants to be a certain genre at all - is it satire or a serious project? But that's really part of the charm; Vol. II feels playful (I can almost imagine its childish grin).

The album opens with ‘Fabienk’, throwing the listener into its off-kilter, restless groove before ‘Mata Zyklek’ picks up the momentum. It has an asymmetric feel, almost leaning forward in impatience. Flooded rhythms pile on top of each other, almost tangible in their density. New sounds emerge as quickly as they are swept away again. The track manages to continue this chaotic journey in a way far from clumsy, and with a feel that's strangely calculated.

The ending vocals of ‘Fabienk’, rather like an alien howl in the distance, fade into the following song ‘Mata Zyklek’, which begins to spin into a carousel of groove before the listener has had a real moment's rest.

‘Yor Zarad’, the album's fifth track, displays acute attention to detail in its tight riffs and drumwork which seamlessly merge. And although there's no doubt it follows the utter madness of the spacey rock’n’roll of the rest of the album, Khn’s talent in producing timeless, catchy guitar riffs is clearly shown in ‘Yor Zarad’ more than the rest of the album.

A sold-out UK tour in May, through Leeds, London and Brighton is set to follow the album release. It will be the first time the two are in the UK.

Perhaps it was written in the stars, for there was no other way Angine de Poitrine could have ended Vol. II but with a densely, tense build-up of sound until it exploded, like a supernova, into silence, almost instantly.

Vol. II is much like the mysterious language the duo speak upon stage. You don’t have to fully understand it to feel it.