The Comet Is Coming Archives 2013–2017 for Channel the Spirits Reissue

The Comet Is Coming will release a 28-track reissue of their Mercury-nominated 2016 debut Channel the Spirits on November 20 via Leaf, packaging the album with both companion EPs and four previously unreleased recordings.

Titled Exploding in Slow Motion: the Complete Channel the Spirits Recordings 2013-2017CE, the set collects every studio and live track the trio completed during the four-year run that established them as a breakout act of the London jazz scene. The lineup pairs saxophonist Shabaka with keyboardist Danalogue and drummer Betamax.

The reissue bundles the EPs Prophecy and Death to the Planet — issued a year either side of the album — alongside rarities and live versions. The 28-track sequence opens with "The Prophecy" and closes with a live take of "Space Carnival."

Among the additions: "Late Night Party Jam 2," taped at Total Refreshment Centre, the north London venue the group treated as their unofficial home stage.

Shabaka framed the project in a press statement. "I like that the freshness of that initial encounter is documented and understood as the album, but then the way we related to it personally gig after gig matured," he said.

"It's a snapshot of a particular energy in London at that time. It takes me to warehouse parties and soundsystems and nights at [Total Refreshment Centre] with near 400 people in a room that would be sweaty with 50."

The Comet Is Coming announced their split in 2023. The trio's scheduled farewell concert was cancelled as part of a strike in solidarity with Palestine. Shabaka released his debut solo record, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, the following year.

What does the archival sweep contain?

• The original Channel the Spirits album, which earned a Mercury Prize nomination in 2016
• The EPs Prophecy and Death to the Planet
• Four previously unreleased tracks, including "Late Night Party Jam 2" from Total Refreshment Centre
• Live versions of "Final Eclipse" and "Space Carnival"
• A 2014 John Kennedy X-Posure XFM session take of "Neon Baby"
• Full-length takes of "Final Eclipse" alongside previously uncollected material, including "Slammin," "Transmission," "Closing Credits," "Start Running," "March of the Rising Sun," and "Ascension"

Why does the reissue matter now?

Channel the Spirits arrived during a wave that re-pitched British jazz. The window saw artists later grouped under "London jazz" sharing bills in DIY rooms. Shabaka's framing leans on that milieu — warehouse parties, soundsystems, cramped 400-person nights — rather than on chart impact.

The group's dissolution in 2023 made future archival work uncertain. A complete sweep of 2013–2017 therefore arrives as a closing document, not a prelude to new material. Shabaka's solo output, which moves past saxophone into shakuhachi and clarinet, now operates in a different idiom.

"Late Night Party Jam 2" is available to stream now. The complete reissue arrives November 20 via Leaf.