Spiral Grooves takes as its inspiration and starting point the most representative genre of traditional Korean instrumental music, sanjo. Like sanjo, the piece begins very slowly and sparsely, as if little at all is happening. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, over the course of the piece, the music accelerates, spiraling faster and faster until it finally reaches a sense of burning urgency at the end. Grooving rhythms continually appear, one leading into the next, as energy and tension slowly build, with unexpected accents, rhythmic displacements, syncopations and cross rhythms seemingly knocking things out of balance. The piece is highly virtuosic, not just in the faster passages, but throughout its entirety, as the performer essentially fills the role not only of sanjo soloist, but also of accompanying janggu. The performer is constantly required to bring out multiple voices, not just the main melodic components, but also the many jangdan-like rhythmic layers that underlie the piece, in order to create the rich texture that propels the music forward.

About 12 minutes long, Spiral Grooves is dedicated to Najung Jin, who commissioned the piece.