In March 2026, J. Mordechai released his debut album, Spectres, on his own Brooklyn label, After Eden. It was a quiet record; the response was not.
Resident Advisor named it Best New Music, Pitchfork added it to Selects, Crack Magazine featured it in Filters, and Spotify placed it on Fresh Finds Experimental.
Quiet Fires is the next chapter. The title track is at once warm and haunted: a sample of Francis Lai's "Plus fort que nous," from Un homme et une femme, becomes a smoky 95 BPM groove of saxophone and restless percussion, its drive indebted to Nicolas Jaar's "Coin in Nine Hands." Its companion, "You (Indigo)," sets log drums beneath dub-techno stabs, sparked by Mark Ernestus's amapiano set at Dripping festival.
A composer and producer whose credits run from Pulitzer-nominated Nazareth Hassan to R&B singer NINEESHA, Mordechai builds each track with a scorer's patience. Quiet Fires is music for the hours after midnight.
1. Quiet Fires
A Francis Lai sample turned into a heavy, smoky groove of saxophone and restless percussion. The percussive drive nods to Nicolas Jaar's "Coin in Nine Hands." It takes the late-night pulse of "You (Indigo)" somewhere heavier.
2. You (Indigo)
Dub-techno chord stabs over a log-drum bassline, with a loose, jazzy lounge warmth. Written after hearing Mark Ernestus play an amapiano-focused set at Dripping festival.
- Cover artwork ↗Full-resolution PNG
- Press photos ↗2026 sets, high-resolution JPEG. Photos by Nathalie Basoski
- Audio ↗Both tracks as WAV, for radio and DJs
- Private stream ↗Listen before release
Short bio
J. Mordechai is a Brooklyn producer and composer, and the founder of the label After Eden. His 2026 debut album, Spectres, was named Resident Advisor Best New Music and a Pitchfork Select. Its follow-up, the double single Quiet Fires, arrives October 23.
Long bio
J. Mordechai is a Brooklyn producer and composer working between club music, experimental pop and film-score melancholy. His debut album, Spectres (After Eden, 2026), drew on Jacques Derrida's idea of hauntology: club music with a ghost in it. Resident Advisor named it Best New Music, Pitchfork added it to Selects, Crack Magazine featured it in Filters, and Spotify placed it on Fresh Finds Experimental. A quiet fixture of New York's experimental underground, he has produced records for Pulitzer-nominated Nazareth Hassan, Aisle Knot (where he is a permanent member) and NINEESHA, remixed Altopalo, Pecas, Nathan Dies and Talk Bazaar, and holds a 2026 residency at the listening room Silence Please. Through After Eden he releases his own music alongside a close circle of New York artists, including Lorien Well, Pecas and Nazareth Hassan.