Mortal Prophets drops new album

New York City artist John Beckmann has earned a reputation as a polymath who treats creativity as something fluid, never tethered to one discipline or one form. Across music, visual art and performance, he’s consistently approached art as a developing language and his project Mortal Prophets may be the clearest expression of that philosophy so far, a shape-shifting world where blues, gospel, electronics and mythology meet in ways that feel equally ancient and strangely futuristic.

Since arriving in 2022, Mortal Prophets has operated around John’s vision while moving through collaboration, mutation and reinvention. Guitarist Parker Bryant and organist Beckett Laurent form part of the sphere, helping construct a sound that can feel spectral one moment and magnetic the next. It’s music where fragments of Americana, ambient textures, dream pop and minimalism collide, as though an old hymn were echoing through a digital cathedral.

That fascination with bringing together the sacred and the surreal was present from the beginning; the debut single “Stomp The Devil” introduced John’s knack for reimagining spiritual imagery through electronic frameworks. It was followed by increasingly ambitious releases including HANUSSEN The Enigmatic Clairvoyant: An Opera and Brian Eno In Heaven, projects that widened the scale of Mortal Prophets and highlighted John’s determination to explore the meeting point between mysticism and technology.

By the end of last year, the project had released Under The Influence, a five-track EP revisiting songs that shaped John’s own creative path. It served as both tribute and transformation, closing one chapter while pointing toward the next and that next phase arrived through the full-length album Hide Inside The Moon. Now John Beckmann continues the journey with its follow-up, the new album titled Not Here Not There.

The new record shifts Mortal Prophets into brighter, more unstable terrain by trading darkness for luminous uncertainty, blending synthwave textures, psychedelic drift, sci-fi theremins, trippy sitars and cinematic production into something melodic yet difficult to categorise. It’s post pop in the best sense, offering recognisable song forms stretched into stranger emotional shapes. One of the album’s most notable changes is John stepping away from the microphone entirely, with lead vocals handed to Tanner McGraw, with Lawson Mars contributing backing vocals.

The sixteen-track record starts off with “Was It Your Voice” which flows with the steady taps of drums, warm bass and drone of shimmering textures as hazy vocal leads drift above. “Where Love Goes to Die” follows with the pulse of subtly stabby arrangement as swirling vocals and twanging instrumental plucks form an immersive slice of psych-tinged retro pop music. “Love is Found” follows with drifting tones and hushed vocal delivery as the delicate bounce of rhythm carries a mesmeric sonic aesthetic to cast a hypnotic listening experience.

Tracks like “I Can Feel Your Heartbeat” glide with intricate instrumental elements, shuffling percussion and expressive vocal performance to craft a dreamy soundscape dashed with memorable melodic writing. Title track “Not Here Not There” rolls with jittery rhythm as rustling drums and lively arrangement are topped by atmospheric vocal leads, resulting in an engrossing sound that’s immersive and energising throughout.

“Real Person Too” lands with the bubble of buzzing tones before jumping into a playful power pop-inflected scene full of plodding bass lines, pattering drums and bright call and response style vocals. “Lucifer Effect” leans back into psych pop vibes with overlapping layers of vocals and intricate groove before “Small Victories” closes the album with a smokey sound of misty instrumental textures, driving rhythm and alluring vocals, resulting in an epic finale to another superb album from Mortal Prophets.

Listen to Not Here Not There below