Solar Circles – Solar Circles II EP (self released)

London based space rock psych outfit Solar Circles release their second eponymously titled EP to soundtrack your journey back from the outer solar system and home in time for Christmas.

Artist: Solar Circles
Title: Solar Circles II
Label: self released
Release date: 26 November 2025
Find it: Bandcamp

Way back in time, during a previous millennium when the internet was still a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye, I was given a cassette that contained two albums. On one side was Spacemen 3’s Sound Of Confusion and on the other was Loop’s Heaven’s End and I’m not going to lie, at first listen I found both to be virtually impenetrable walls of guitar noise with
vague vocals.

I didn’t see the bigger picture – I didn’t understand that this music wasn’t meant to be put on in the background while you mended your skateboard. It was meant to be experienced, preferably in the company of the people responsible, while they were making it, as loudly as possible.

So my red pill moment came some weeks later when my friend who had given me the cassette asked if I would accompany them to see Loop playing live. I had nothing on, so I said sure. Since that day, I’ve seen hundreds of bands live and literally NONE OF THEM were as loud as Loop.

Only when you experience this kind of music at volume, do you get it. People would tell me that you need to take drugs to listen to bands like this – incorrect – the music itself is the psychoactive ingredient and it only takes effect when you crank it. That’s when this sound takes on a life of its own, when the combination of huge tremolo-laden distorted guitars and
hypnotic mantra-like vocals have the desired effect.

You should apply that rule to this record too, to get the full benefit. If you’re unfamiliar with this flavour of psychedelia, this EP is as good a starting place as the two records I mention above. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it does what it says on the tin, very well.

Machine Dream is a driving, power-chorded monster with a moody opening, mirrored by the EP’s closer, Way Out, which gives a knowing nod to Spacemen 3’s classic Revolution, but Penelope’s interlude is the stand out track for me. An atmospheric instrumental builder that, while constructed entirely from a single riff, allows layered guitars to build haunting
complementary motifs on top in an almost orchestral fashion.

EP Solar Circles II by Solar Circles is out now digitally.

Find Solar Circles: Bandcamp | Instagram

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