Strange Pilgrim usher in ‘Too Bright Planet’ with the hazy glow of ‘Late Light’
Portland’s Strange Pilgrim are back in orbit. The indie rock outfit just dropped ‘Late Light,’ the opening track from ‘Too Bright Planet,’ their sophomore LP out September 26, 2025 via Royal Oakie Records.
It follows this year’s ‘Embers’ EP and their acclaimed 2022 debut. Now, with a fresh lineup featuring Pat Spurgeon (Rogue Wave, Dandy Warhols) and Elliott Kay, the band is stepping into new sonic territory.
Led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Josh Barnhart, Strange Pilgrim craft music that’s emotionally grounded and musically restless—equal parts dream pop, cosmic Americana, and psychedelic shimmer. It’s intimate, expansive, and often tinged with a kind of wandering wonder.
On ‘Too Bright Planet,’ they lean into the woozy experiments of Eno, the sun-dappled sprawl of The Grateful Dead, and the dusty glow of early-70s Fleetwood Mac. Think Penthouse-era Luna by way of Gentle Spirit. Recorded live at Bocce Recording in Vancouver, WA, the album was produced by Barnhart, mixed by Cory Gray (Califone), and mastered by David Glasebrook (Sugar Candy Mountain). Guests include Maggie Morris (Sunbathe), Cory Gray (The Delines), and labelmate Caleb Nichols.
Thematically, the new songs feel more open-hearted than the band’s debut, which leaned into alienation and dislocation (a nod to their namesake García Márquez short story collection). Here, Barnhart draws on Robert Hass’ poetry, the films of Wim Wenders and Akira Kurosawa, and the art of Gerhard Richter to explore acceptance, renewal, and movement.
About the single, Barnhart says:
“‘Late Light” opens with a surreal portrait of a slow, dragging night shift—those hours when time seems suspended and the end of the workday never quite comes into view. Set in the dim glow of a service job, the song captures the strange intimacy between worker and patron, with the narrator both curating the vibe and quietly observing the flow of people and energy. The repetitive chord progression mirrors the looping rhythm of late-night labor, subtly shifting just enough to reflect the small variations that give each night its own mood. Sonically, it’s a gentle descent—psychedelic and hazy, with swirling instrumentation that wraps around the vocal and harmonies. It eases the listener in, inviting them to settle into a space where the lines between the mundane and the dreamlike begin to blur.”
The full album is up for preorder via Royal Oakie here. If ‘Late Light’ sets the tone, ‘Too Bright Planet’ might just be your next fall favorite.
Headline photo: Katie Oscar
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