Mortal Prophets – “Not Here Not There”

Not Here Not There by The Mortal Prophets is just impressive and somewhere around the third or fourth track, you realize you’ve stopped looking at your phone and started staring at the ceiling.

John Beckmann wrote, arranged, and produced the whole thing himself, and that kind of full creative control can go wrong fast. Here it goes right. The guitars shimmer without being pretty in any obvious way, the synthesizers feel warped just enough to stay interesting, and the melodies have a narcotic quality that makes the slower moments feel earned rather than slow. Nothing is rushed. The album takes its time, and that patience pays off.

Tanner McGraw’s lead vocals are a big part of why this works. He sings with the kind of detachment that still somehow feels intimate, which is genuinely hard to pull off and my personal favorites are “Where Love Goes to Die”, “I Can Feel Your Heartbeat”, and “Wittgenstein’s Silence”, three tracks that each hit differently but share the same unhurried, late-night pull. Lawson Mars adds backing vocals that push things into a wider, slightly haunting space without crowding the songs.

Compared to the previous album Hide Inside The Moon, this one feels a little more alive, a little more awake. There’s more tension and a few unexpected tonal shifts that keep you off balance in a good way. I think this is The Mortal Prophets‘ strongest work yet. Do yourself a favor and dig into Hide Inside The Moon while you’re at it, then follow The Mortal Prophets wherever they’re going next. Have you come across this project before, or is this your first time hearing about them?