Described as a "prophetic document" and "the beginning of the end" by The Leaf Label, Channel the Spirits draws on the same influences of jazz, electronica, psychedelia and sci-fi references as the previous release from The Comet Is Coming, Prophecy.

[1][2] The first single, "Space Carnival", was premiered on The Quietus, who described the track as a demonstration of "the group refining their cosmic jazz stylings".

[3] In an interview with M magazine, band member Betamax Killer said of the album: Channel The Spirits was meant to be a soundtrack to planet Earth’s doom.

We hoped to discover the underlying human power beneath the mundane day-to-day routines of modern life.

[5] The Quietus praised the "sense of perspiring, physical energy that pulses through almost everything" and the "outrageous, head-snapping riff and hip-snapping beat[s]" as well as the "echoes...of Space Invaders, 70s sci-fi films, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, post-punk, Fela Kuti, and 80s dance and electronica as well as...Sun Ra, Parliament, and Funkadelic".