First Encounters by Spiral Wave Nomads

"The four tracks on First Encounters are wonderfully explosive, difficult to predict and utterly mind-melting. Just the thing to soak in during what looks to be a hard-ass winter. Spiral Wave Nomads' music reminds us that spring will eventually blossom again." --Byron Coley


The sophomore effort from Spiral Wave Nomads was recorded live one afternoon in the pre-pandemic halcyon days of the summer of 2019. Despite the geographic distance between their respective bases of Albany, NY and New Haven, CT, Kiefer and Hardiman's collaboration started in 2018 after becoming label mates on the These Are Not Records imprint. They spent the better part of that year getting to know each other over digital pathways and recording their self-titled debut--a collection of asynchronous improvisations and extended psych jams--by file-sharing, collecting layers of convergent truths along the way. This time around, they wanted to see how their ideas would come together in an unscripted live setting. "First Encounters" documents the first time Kiefer and Hardiman ever met in the flesh and played music together in the same room. With no plan to speak of, no talk of what it should sound like, it's a testament to the magic that happens when two seasoned improvisors trust each other and let it flow.