Based in Hamburg, XINTRA is a new music project that aims to construct a world where sound, visuals and emotion overlap in engrossing fashion. The alias marks a new chapter for the artist Heiko Ritt, who’s risen from a period of profound personal turbulence that reshaped both his life and his artistic direction. XINTRA began as a response to trauma and has since bloomed into a space where experimentation, reflection and connection all shine.
Ultimately, this reinvention grew out of a need to process, to feel and to rebuild; over the course of a year marked by intense change, Heiko developed XINTRA as both an outlet and a refuge, allowing him to explore mental and physical health challenges through creative expression. That journey is stitched throughout the project’s cloth, resulting in a sound that finds moments of beauty in sadness, understanding in confusion and warmth within struggle.
Drawing on atmospheric electronics, intricate guitar work and downtempo rhythms, XINTRA’s sound creates an immersive environment that invites listeners into a mesmeric sphere. From his small Hamburg studio, Heiko limits himself to a specific set of tools, including piano, drum machines, synths and classical guitar, intentionally avoiding a reliance on technology to maintain a sense of space in his arrangements.
Unveiling his highly original sonic vision, The project’s debut single titled “MIND” opens the first window into the upcoming DAYDREAMS EP, which itself forms one half of a larger album titled DAYDREAMS & NIGHTTERRORS. Thematically, “MIND” takes shape as a love song, but like much of XINTRA’s work, it eschews simple definition by revealing multiple layers that shift between ideas of mental health, connection, sensuality and curiosity.
Softly drifting into focus with atmospheric textures and the pulse of hazy vocalisations, the patter of gentle percussion brings a steady rhythmic sway as delicate piano notes usher in hushed vocal leads. Casting an enchanting soundscape of intimate aesthetic and emotive tone, the song gradually flows with warm bass shots, immersive arrangement and utterly alluring vocal leads. Channelling a moving sound akin to artists such as Phoria, “MIND” sees XINTRA deliver a truly consuming experience that’s original, engaging and highly affecting all at once.
Paired with the single, the music video presents an abstract scene featuring a masked figure standing on the shore and in the shallows of the ocean as the water gently swells around them, resulting in a thoroughly transportive visual accompaniment for the music. With the DAYDREAMS EP being launched at Hamburg’s Birdland Club and the full album release following later this year, XINTRA is making a spectacular entrance with a compelling and meaningful musical offering and we can’t wait to see what he’s got in store next.
Watch the music video for MIND below
Photography credit: Tilman Jäckle
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