mentalEscape is the professional name of independent electronic music composer and producer Mirza Causevic. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mirza was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. A veteran of his hometown’s legendary music scene, he also regularly blends elements of his home country into his tunes.
Causevic has worked at the cutting edge of modern electronic music since the 1990s. He launched mentalEscape in early 2024 with a now-popular YouTube channel and a string of remixes on SoundCloud. This month he dropped the project’s debut LP.
Upgrade is the brand new album from mentalEscape, released worldwide via all major streaming services on October 2, 2024. The 10-song set is a fun ride through some classic sounds. According to its producer, the album was inspired by the vibrant electronica of the 1990s.
From the Balkan melody and groove of “Pasha’s Night Out” to the cinematic “Odyssey”, Upgrade is a wild stylistic ride through thirty years of electronic music. Throughout the album, mentalEscape mixes classic dance, electronic, and hip-hop rhythms with modern production techniques. He drops infectious Prodigy-inspired grooves on tracks like the “Keep Going” and then takes that sound beyond the stratosphere on the fabulously schizophrenic “The Salton Sea”.
The stylistic adventures continue on trippy experiments like “0s and 1s”, “Persistence”, and the high-octane rave anthem “Hype”. Mirza invokes the energy of electronic ground-breaking legends like The Crystal Method as he blends breakbeats with ambient synths (“AmenBr8k”) and Eastern European melodies with old-school hip-hop grooves (“Old Town”). He then takes us on a top-down synthwave cruise on “Night Drive”.
Check out Upgrade in its entirety below, or listen on your favorite streaming service. You can also hear the tracks “Hype”, “Night Drive”, and “Salton Sea” on the Deep Dive : Dance & Electronic playlist. Follow the links below to connect with mentalEscape.