Exclusive track premiere of ‘Reanimate’ by Ekko The Strange, taken from his latest album, ‘Mystique’.

Ekko the Strange deep dreams, creatively designs, and seductively delineates a luxurious musical psycho-geography on new album ‘Mystique’. His second full-length, it unfurls like a crepuscular landscape promising unexpected joys and dark thrills, beds of electronic rhythms and alien keyboards layered to beckon nocturnal bliss and pleasure. The artist’s name is “a reflection upon the curiosities in life,” Ekko says. “I have thought about changing the name to simply Ekko, because I feel that I echo my life experience … and you could say this project is a reflection of the strange or curious moments.” ‘Mystique’s’ elegant but assertive coldwave is created from the psychic impressions only travel brings, evoking the mystery and dispossession of his new home referenced by Bowie in his Berlin trilogy. Writing, performing, and self-producing ‘Mystique’, Ekko has crafted a full set of sinewy, seething, cinematic anthems amid wet sonic wilderness. He originates from the dusky high desert plains of Les Bois, ID, and is currently usually stationed in “Warszawa”, Poland. The album is self-mixed as well, with J. Todd Dunnigan in the USA, and mastered by Branden Funkhouser at Radiohouse.

“Reanimate is about reawakening the hope among the loss we encounter in this thing called life”.

“Living in Warsaw, Poland has inspired this record and my first record as well,” he says. “The city was destroyed during World War II. Since then, it has been rebuilt upon the bodies and ashes of the past. I have great respect for the Polish people and the people of Central and Eastern Europe. I’ve developed some great friendships and have been inspired by different aspects of cultures outside of America. People, places, and life experiences have directly inspired this record.” The sequence includes the resonant and jolting chamber-march of ‘Reanimate’, which is about escaping, “getting back to that special moment or place. All moments in time are unique and impossible to imitate or perfectly recreate. But this song speaks of the desire to do so”. Its nuanced swagger evokes the hauntology of desire, the deep-ache longing to eternally return. “‘Vamps’ is about realizing that we all are a circle of animals surrounded by wrongs yet breaking free from the stigmas and fucked-up views that the world can place upon us,” he says. Adding, “’Solidarity in Chaos.’” Its shuddering Goth plume of melody and whispers envelope the listener in glorious, urgent intrigue. Album opener ‘Exotic’ has a synthetically supernatural grind to its beat, its moans of transfixed desire introducing the listener to Mystique’s exhibition of sound. “‘Like the ice, turns to flow… my heart awakens from the cold” its story unfolds, ruminating on “new life after death of past negative experiences, suffering.” It’s a magnificently mesmerizing yet restrained way to usher in the mordant jouissance of the record. ‘Mystique’ clearly describes the almost amorphous, yet sensually captivating mystery of life experiences going into this album. “I’m fueled by discovery, and living in foreign lands,” Ekko explains. “I find living outside the common life interesting and inspiring.”

Ekko The Strange had released one previous LP, ‘Haunting Me’, on April 1, 2020, but like most artists in this era imminent plans for shows and tours had been delayed. “I feel like ‘Mystique’ has a few more layers than the first record”, he says. It carries the debut’s deep moods but heightens the vibrancy with dark velvet guitar expressions and nasty, pulsating synth throbs. ‘Mystique’ seems programmed as a soundtrack for a life altering experience, the perfect accompaniment to a bacchanalia within nightfall.

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