I Hate People On The Internet, the 2022 EP by Brisbane-based singer, songwriter and producer Zheani Sparkes, ended with a song that found solace in nihilism. “We know life’s not fair now, baby, don’t be scared now,” she sang on “We’re All Going To Die,” “We’re all going there and we’ll be happy there.” After a record that drew power from strife and hatred, it was a surprising twist—an acknowledgement that if this world is, indeed, bullshit, ending in death for those good and bad alike, we might as well just accept it.

The Spiritual Meat Grinder represents a new mode for Zheani: in contrast to I Hate People On The Internet, a raw contusion of a record, this mixtape makes room for ethereal synth-pop, rib-rattling house music, and crystalline beats inspired by jungle and drum’n’bass. Zheani describes the experience as “a party where you release your inhibitions – but with occasional mental breakdowns in the bathroom”—a glamorous, hedonistic take on Homer’s Odyssey that finds its protagonist battling through raging parties and familial trauma in an effort to find her way home.