Rock/Review Mortal Prophets - Hide Inside The Moon

John Beckmann’s project The Mortal Prophets exists where avant-garde composition, roots Americana, and shadowy electronic atmospheres intersect. Based in New York, Beckmann approaches the project less as a conventional “band” than as a mutable platform—a revolving door of collaborators, producers, and vocalists assembled around his songwriting, conceptual frames, and production vision. Across a prolific run of albums and EPs, The Mortal Prophets have explored everything from twisted blues cartographies and kosmische drift to psychedelic dream-pop and noir-pop balladry, while maintaining a through-line of lyrical intensity and iconoclastic restlessness.

“Hide Inside The Moon” marks a mesmerizing return for Mortal Prophets, an album that drifts effortlessly along the velvet borderlands between dreaming and waking consciousness. Guided once again by the cinematic vision of John Beckmann — who handles the writing, composition, and production — the record feels meticulously sculpted yet beautifully weightless, like a series of half-remembered scenes unfolding in slow motion.

Two new voices expand the project’s emotional palette. Tanner McGraw’s lead vocals bring a fragile, human warmth to the swirling arrangements, while Lawson Mars’ backing harmonies shimmer in and out like spectral afterimages. Their interplay gives the album a sense of movement and intimacy, as if the listener is being gently pulled through layers of memory, illusion, and quiet revelation.

Sonically, the album occupies a hypnotic intersection of psychedelic dream-pop, noir-tinged cinematic pop, and ambient haze. Echoes of early Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd surface in the playful yet slightly unhinged textures, while the delicate vulnerability and hushed clarity of Robert Wyatt’s solo work linger in the emotional delivery. Synths float like lunar mist, guitars glimmer and dissolve, and subtle rhythmic pulses guide the listener without ever breaking the dreamlike spell.

What makes “Hide Inside The Moon” so compelling is its ability to feel immersive without becoming overwhelming. Each track invites surrender rather than attention-grabbing spectacle, rewarding close listening with hidden melodic details and atmospheric depth. It’s an album that unfolds slowly, revealing its emotional weight through repetition and mood rather than overt hooks.

Mortal Prophets have created a deeply transportive experience — a nocturnal refuge for listeners drawn to introspection, cinematic textures, and the strange beauty found between reality and reverie.