Part space invasion, part sonic swansong, JG Thirwell (Foetus) and Swedish multi-instrumentalist/composer Simon Steensland share the new expansive single “Heron” as they announce their collaborative effort on a new album Oscillospira (Ipecac Recordings), out April 24th.

Different yet complementary, both creators make idiosyncratic music that is characterized by dramatic intensity, shadowy suspense, darkness, and light, sometimes breathtaking and always evocative. Oscillospira is an odyssey of dark chamber prog with a cinematic bent, largely instrumental album with eerie choral parts.

JG Thirlwell and Simon Steensland’s journey together first began in 2017 in Stockholm at a workshop for the Great Learning Orchestra, a collective that operates on the model of an experimental music ensemble from the late ’60s, Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, using musicians from a variety of backgrounds and abilities.

JG Thirlwell recounts: “I had been a fan of Steensland’s work for some years through his albums like Led Circus and Fat Again. I admired the dark power in his work and it seemed adjacent to a lot of music that I love and inspires me – groups in the Rock in Opposition and Zeuhl worlds such as Magma, Univers Zero, and Present, as well as 70’s era King Crimson and Bartok.”