A faint sense of transmission noise runs through NOT HERE NOT THERE, as if the album is constantly arriving from a slightly misaligned frequency, never fully locking into place yet never dissolving either. Mortal Prophets, the long-running project led by John Beckmann, uses this instability as structural language rather than aesthetic accident. What emerges is an electronic pop record that feels suspended between clarity and erosion, between pulse and drift.
Rhythmically, the album avoids any straightforward grid logic. Beats are present, but they rarely behave like anchors. Instead, they function as soft propulsion systems—muted kicks, delayed snare ghosts, and syncopated hi-hats that seem to hesitate before committing. This creates a sense of forward motion without urgency. Tracks don’t build in the conventional sense; they unfold in layers that suggest memory rather than progression. At times, the rhythm section feels almost dissolved into the synth architecture, as though percussion has been absorbed into the same atmospheric material as the pads and textures.
The synth work is where the record reveals its central identity. Beckmann constructs a wide harmonic field built from analog warmth and digital shimmer, letting tones bleed into one another rather than separating them cleanly. There are traces of synth-wave aesthetics, but they are refracted through something more unstable and psychedelic. Oscillators drift slightly out of tune, filters open in slow, irregular arcs, and melodic fragments appear like signals caught mid-transmission. Occasionally, a theremin-like lead cuts through the haze, introducing a sci-fi inflection that feels less nostalgic than disorienting. Nothing here is static; even sustained chords feel like they are breathing unevenly.
The atmosphere is dense but not heavy. It carries a kind of luminous instability, a brightness that never settles into comfort. Compared to earlier, darker phases of The Mortal Prophets, this record leans into a more radiant palette, though not in a way that suggests resolution. Instead, the light feels fractured, broken into angles and reflections. Psychedelic elements surface frequently—slowed sitar textures, blurred harmonic overtones, reverb trails that stretch longer than expected—but they are integrated into the electronic framework rather than sitting on top of it. The result is a hybrid space that feels neither fully organic nor fully synthetic.
A notable shift lies in the vocal approach. Beckmann steps away from the microphone entirely, leaving vocal duties to Tanner McGraw and Lawson Mars. Their performances are understated, almost conversational in tone, which contrasts sharply with the intricate production surrounding them. McGraw’s voice carries a kind of suspended intimacy, never overreaching, while Mars adds a wider harmonic layer that subtly expands the emotional field. Together, they introduce a human presence that never dominates the architecture but instead floats within it, like another synth layer disguised as breath.
Across the album, there is a persistent sense of motion without destination. Tracks feel like they are passing through spaces rather than arriving at them—empty streets, shifting light, interiors that never fully resolve into recognizable rooms. This aligns with the project’s broader tendency to treat music as environment rather than object. Even melodic hooks, when they appear, seem to dissolve quickly into surrounding textures, as if unwilling to assert permanence.
NOT HERE NOT THERE ultimately functions as a study in controlled ambiguity. It doesn’t push toward climax or resolution, preferring instead to remain in a continuous state of becoming. Electronic pop structures are present, but stretched and reframed until they resemble something more fluid, almost cinematic in scope. Within this shifting framework, Mortal Prophets delivers a release of high quality, carefully constructed yet intentionally ungraspable. It is a record that resists definition while still offering strong emotional and sonic coherence.
For a webzine context, this stands as a particularly compelling addition to the catalog—a work that fits comfortably within adventurous programming while maintaining its own internal logic.
