ORIGINS is where Das Mörtal turns memory into momentum. The Montréal producer recomposes the project’s core—dark synthwave, Italo pulse, techno grit—into a lean, scene-ready suite that feels like new ground rather than a victory lap. The through-line is intention: every section advances the narrative, swapping retro cosplay for present-tense design.
“Minimal Chainsaw” kicks the door with serrated overtones and industrial glide, before the focus track “I Just Want to Hold You (Part I)” flips to vocoder-flecked romance: rubbery low end, flickering arps, and a chorus that lingers like neon on wet pavement. Premiered via NOTION, its Stacy Lee–directed video stages a gothic club tableau—leather, fangs, strobe—yet the real drama is in the arrangement’s breath control. “Part II” deepens the nocturne, peeling back sheen for shadow. “Falsche Daten” remains the EP’s steel beam: a brutal, beautiful techno driver that weaponizes early influences without nostalgia fog. The pairing “Satan’s Hand” / “Evolution of Darkness” studies pressure and negative space, while closing cut “…Now” lifts off with a futurist glide.
Beyond the references—Daft Punk gloss, Justice snap, Kavinsky noir—Das Mörtal writes with clarity: hooks as architecture, groove as plot. ORIGINS reads like a sharpened mission statement from an artist as comfortable on festival stages (Osheaga, Transmusicales) as in midnight basements.
