Messer, the solo project of three-time Grammy Award winner Mitch Grassi of the renowned a cappella group Pentatonix, announced his sophomore EP, Cuts. Set for release on July 18, the intimate collection of ethereal, electronic pop tracks is a raw exploration of the emotions tied to falling in love, capturing the vulnerability, excitement, and fear that come with it.
Alongside the announcement, Messer unveiled the first glimpse into the project with the single + visualizer, “Not Yet.” The magnetic track pulses with an infectious drum beat while Grassi’s silky vocals take center stage, capturing the tortuous stretches of separation in a blossoming long-distance relationship. Grassi says, “It’s about the agonizing anticipation of waiting until the next time I get to see my partner who previously lived across the world from me. It was like putting the progression of our beautiful relationship on hold every time we had to part.”
In celebration of Cuts, Messer will be performing at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles on July 16. He will also be performing in Berlin, Germany, at Lido on July 30.
Messer is the solo project of Mitch Grassi, the three-time Grammy Award winner known for his work with the iconic a cappella group Pentatonix. With this new namesake, Grassi has forged a bold new identity separate from his a cappella roots.
In 2021, Messer released his debut EP, Roses, a collection of songs inspired by the sounds of 80s synthpop crafted with his signature modern pop sensibilities. In 2023, he returned with a string of evocative new singles, showcasing a broader spectrum of musical inspirations and delving deeper into experimental sonic worlds and more intimate storytelling. The standout track is his achingly vulnerable “Halfway,” a hopeful atmospheric ballad that reveals a fragile new humanity to the artist’s persona.
Messer’s forthcoming new EP Cuts is a collection of deeply personal songs that have been a work in progress over the years. “It’s essentially the songs from the cutting room floor that I had previously deemed incongruent with who I thought I had to be as an artist,” Grassi says. “But these songs are me at my core, and deserve to be heard. They are very dear to me.”
Throughout the project, Messer explores the raw excitement, vulnerability, and fear that come with falling in love, while also embracing the underlying themes of hope and exhilaration of this unique human experience. “There is also a connecting theme of ‘shadow work,’” Grassi explains, “coming face to face with the darker parts of myself for the first time and how disorienting that can be.”
‘Cuts’ EP Tracklist
- Not Yet
- Human
- Railway Car
- When I’m Awake
- Break Open
- Light On
- Clean (For W)
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/messer
https://www.youtube.com/@MesserWeb
https://www.tiktok.com/@messer.web
