Mortal Prophets drops new EP

Coming out of New York City, artist John Beckmann has spent his career breaking various creative perimeters. A multidisciplinary figure known for blurring the lines between form and medium, his latest incarnation as Mortal Prophets continues that tradition with cinematic flair. Since its launch in 2022, the project has become a vessel for exploring American music’s haunted past and its avant-garde future, landing at a place where gospel meets glitch, blues meets synth and history dissolves into dream.

Mortal Prophets is ultimately built on collaboration, presenting an ever-shifting collective of musicians that includes guitarist Parker Bryant and organist Beckett Laurent among others. Together, they’ve forged a sonic world that brings together elements of Americana, dream pop, minimalism and ambient electronics into something that’s at once sacred and subversive.

The project first came into focus in 2022 with debut single “Stomp The Devil” and from there, John and company released a string of adventurous works including “New Breed” and “Sleeping In My Bed” before expanding their creative output through conceptual EPs such as HANUSSEN The Enigmatic Clairvoyant: An Opera and Brian Eno In Heaven.

Their latest offering titled Lost In Space takes their sonic mission to the stars via a seven-track retro-futurist synth pop voyage crafted in collaboration with Irish producer William Declan Lucey. The record reimagines Mortal Prophets’ sound in a shimmering new light. which trades the grit of the Delta for the glow of deep-space frequencies, taking listeners on a cosmic journey through sound and emotion.

“We wanted this record to feel like a transmission from another dimension—familiar, but from a slightly different timeline. Synth pop has always been emotional architecture to me. Lost In Space is that architecture illuminated,” John shares. With William adding, “John’s songs already had a dreamlike tension. The synths just amplified it into a larger universe. These seven tracks feel like they’re suspended in orbit—always moving, always glowing.”

Produced between New York and Ireland, the EP fuses John’s brooding songwriting with William’s electronic architecture, resulting in a set of tracks that feel both intimate and infinite, based in human feeling but surrounded by celestial air. The soft guitar flickers and uptempo patter of percussion on opening track “Taste of Honey” slips into a charming new wave-tinged synth pop outing as John’s smooth voice glides above the warmth of analogue textures, forming an engrossing listening experience that’s bright, catchy and hazy all at once.

“More Than Ever” leans further into an electronic soundscape with the wash of fuzzy synth tones and bouncy of crisp percussion capped by expressive vocal performance to cast a wholly absorbing scene. “Another Time” floats with a dark atmosphere and downtempo percussive shuffle to create a sense of moodiness throughout. With “This Kind Of Love,” the airy flicker of soft synths gives way to delicate guitar notes and tender vocal performance to cast a dreamy sound that expands with the rattle of drums and colourful instrumentation, offering a charming jam that’s energising and memorable from start to finish.

“Idle Summer” pairs the steady pulse of the beat, intricate acoustic guitar tones and gentle vocals, peppered with warm synth flourishes to take listeners on a transportive musical trip. The title track “Lost In Space” filters in with the swell of smokey synths and emotive vocals, developing with the twang of guitar notes, rhythmic echoes and alluring vocal layers. Closing the EP with “Tell Me,” the bright, hopeful sound returns to deliver a rock-inflected finale packed full of bursts of driving energy and theatrical, Bowie-esque vocals to conclude the superb new record from Moral Prophets.

Listen to Lost In Space below