2ŁØT Find the Light in the Groove on “Iris,” Featuring Eric Krasno

There is a particular kind of song that sounds like it started as a room full of musicians following an instinct. 2ŁØT’s new single “Iris” has that feel. It moves with the ease of a jam session, but it does not drift. The track knows where it is going, even when it takes a few turns along the way.

“Iris,” out now, is the latest preview of the band’s forthcoming sophomore album RE/SOLVE, due July 31. The track features GRAMMY-winning guitarist Eric Krasno, whose wah-soaked guitar work gives the song much of its color, along with horn performances from Ben Bohorquez and Evan Weiss of The Funky Knuckles. On paper, that lineup could easily turn into a showcase of credentials. In practice, the players serve the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSoXEcx85-4

The result is a warm, soul-forward track built around movement and affirmation. The groove sits comfortably between funk, jazz, soul, and electronic-minded jam music, which is exactly the kind of terrain 2ŁØT has been carving out under the banner of Electronic Jam Music. The horns add lift without crowding the arrangement. Krasno’s guitar brings bluesy texture and rhythmic bite, especially when the song opens up into its tempo-shifting second life.

At the center of “Iris” is a plainspoken emotional idea: recognizing beauty and worth after a period of doubt. Bassist Robert Trusko points to the line “Iris, you know how beautiful you are” as the core of the song. It is a simple lyric, and that simplicity is part of why it works. The track does not over-explain its message. It lets the refrain carry the weight.

The backstory gives the song a loose, human quality. “Iris” began during a writing retreat at Matt Sorum’s Good Noise Studio in Palm Springs, where the band rotated through different creative pairings. Trusko and drummer Omar Jahwar II built the rhythmic foundation, then vocalist Rudy Love Jr. responded to an experimental J Dilla-inspired switch-up with a verse that reportedly came together almost immediately. You can hear some of that spontaneity in the final version.

“Iris” also gives a clearer look at the emotional architecture of RE/SOLVE. The album follows 2ŁØT’s debut Entropy, but turns inward, focusing on self-reflection, rebuilding, and the complicated process of becoming someone after hard chapters have already changed you. Rudy Love Jr. has described the album through the lens of a “Second Hero’s Journey,” and “Iris” feels like one of the brighter stops along that path.

2ŁØT have assembled an impressive circle around RE/SOLVE, with Jon Batiste, Robert Randolph, Eric Krasno, Elise Trouw, Cameron McCloud, Frank Moka, Mariel Jacoda, and others appearing across the album. “Iris” suggests the band’s collaborations work best when they widen the frame without pulling focus from the core group. It is a hopeful song, but it earns that feeling through chemistry rather than grandstanding.