Mars_999 Photo Credit: Juraj Péč
Emerging from the textured, emotionally layered underground of Eastern Europe, Mars_999, the sonic alias of Juraj Péč, is not your typical newcomer. Based in Bratislava, Slovakia, Péč is a self-contained creative force: a songwriter, performer, multi-instrumentalist, and visual director who blurs the lines between vulnerability and vision, analog and AI, memory and future. Once teetering on the edge of silence, Péč’s return to music is not a career move, it’s a resurrection. There was a time, he admits, when he thought he’d never come back to music. That absence, however, only intensified the emotional gravity behind his artistic rebirth.
Under the moniker Mars_999, Péč channels the ghosts of industrial unease and post-punk melancholy, weaving them into dreamlike soundscapes that draw parallels to the likes of Bon Iver, Nine Inch Nails, and James Blake, but always with a uniquely Slovak soul. What separates Péč from his contemporaries is not just his ability to blend genres, but to dissolve them completely. He creates music that feels lived-in and cinematic, deeply personal yet universally resonant. Every element, from the lo-fi guitars and analog synths to his warbled visual art direction, carries fingerprints of an artist who isn’t simply making music, but rebuilding meaning from fragments of memory, identity, and collapse.
On July 9th, 2025, Slovak artist Mars_999 released Ešte Nie Sme Stratení a raw, radiant anthem that feels less like a single and more like a whisper from the edge of emotional ruin. This track is the second release from his upcoming debut album, and it arrives like a flare shot into a dark sky, defiant, intimate, and achingly human. Written, performed, and recorded solely by Juraj Péč, the song was brought to life with haunting production by Rohin Brown at Faust Studio in Prague and final mastering by UK engineer Matt Colton (known for work with Thom Yorke and Bon Iver). What begins as a lo-fi guitar meditation erupts into shimmering analog synths, ghostly Slovak vocals, and post-punk atmospherics, collapsing genres into a single, cinematic cry for meaning. As Péč himself confesses, This song pulled me out. It reminded me there’s still something to say. Something to feel. That we’re not lost yet. And indeed, in a world that feels perpetually on the brink, Ešte Nie Sme Stratení doesn’t just speak, it remembers for all of us.
Immediately Ešte Nie Sme Stratení begins, the listener is pulled into a world where sound feels like memory, hazy, haunting, and deeply human. It kicks off not with bombast, but with a slow-blooming atmosphere built from lo-fi guitar textures that float like echoes of a distant past. There’s a tenderness to the intro, a cinematic stillness that immediately establishes Mars_999’s mastery of tone and mood. It’s like stepping into a faded photograph, grainy, familiar, and yet filled with a quiet tension that suggests transformation is on the horizon. Synths begin to swell beneath the surface, warm and analog in texture, casting an emotional undertow that prepares the listener for the journey ahead. Right from the start, you sense this isn’t just a song, it’s a reflection, a reverie, a whispered confession in the language of sound.
Musically, Mars_999 weaves a lush sonic tapestry that blends genres with effortless precision. The track pulses with a post-punk spirit, but it drifts beautifully into realms of darkwave, shoegaze, and cinematic pop, forming a uniquely hybridized identity. The rhythm, while subtle, acts like a slow heartbeat, measured and deliberate, giving the space needed for the ambient textures to breathe. As the track unfolds, the synths bloom with restrained euphoria, unfurling layer by layer like mist over a moonlit field. Lo-fi guitars maintain a tactile texture throughout, grounding the celestial elements in something more human and visceral. The transitions are seamless, natural, almost unnoticeable until you find yourself fully immersed in an entirely new emotional depth. The music doesn’t shout; it persuades. It doesn’t push; it pulls gently, making you want to lean in closer to every note.
Then enters the voice, soft, ghostly, and yet commanding in its emotional vulnerability. Mars_999 sings entirely in Slovak, and though the language may not be universally understood, the feeling is unmistakably clear. His vocal delivery begins with a whisper-like fragility that feels almost hesitant, as if testing whether it’s safe to speak such intimate truths. But as the song progresses, his voice evolves, it grows in volume, in strength, in color. It doesn’t just follow the instrumental arc; it intertwines with it, pushing and pulling in perfect harmony. There’s a raw, unpolished beauty to his tone, one that feels unfiltered and sincere. Every note seems to tremble with meaning, carrying both weariness and determination. He doesn’t sing at the listener, he sings through the music, and by doing so, his voice becomes another instrument in the emotional arrangement, one that resonates deeply.
What sets Ešte Nie Sme Stratení apart on a technical level is the perfect fusion between vocal and instrumental elements. The production, led by Rohin Brown and mastered by Matt Colton, strikes an immaculate balance between atmosphere and clarity. Vocals aren’t perched on top of the mix, they’re nestled within it, moving like smoke inside a sealed room. The synths shimmer and pulse with the same emotional arc as the lyrics. The guitar lines hum with melancholy, each strum timed with the rise and fall of the vocal lines. It feels as though each element is aware of the other’s presence, responding, supporting, and enhancing every emotion expressed. The mix is both cinematic and intimate, grand in scope yet personal in impact. There is no overproduction, no unnecessary flare, just honest, emotional craft executed with profound control and deep sensitivity.
From a personal perspective, the moment the track opened, I felt an emotional weight settle around me, not oppressive, but enveloping. The song doesn’t demand your attention; it earns it, slowly and sincerely. It creates a kind of emotional gravity that makes everything else fade away. There’s something deeply introspective about the vibe it constructs, like being alone in a moving train at night, watching your own reflection flicker against the glass as rain blurs the world outside. The textures invite you to sit still, to feel, to reflect. There’s sadness in it, yes, but also an undercurrent of resilience, a message hidden in the sonic folds that says, We are not yet lost. The song makes you feel seen in the quiet corners of emotion most music tends to skip past. It’s the kind of track that doesn’t just play, it lingers.
A ghostly yet luminous cry from the edge, Ešte Nie Sme Stratení is Mars_999’s sonic reminder that even in silence, we are not lost yet.
In its entirety, Ešte Nie Sme Stratení stands as a quiet triumph. It’s not a song chasing commercial attention or radio formulas, it’s a deeply personal, unapologetically Slovak expression that still reaches across language and cultural boundaries with its emotional truth. Mars_999 has crafted a track that is both immersive and intentional, where every sonic decision feels like it was born from a place of lived experience. The high-quality production enhances rather than distracts from the message, allowing each texture, each lyric, each note to land with full emotional resonance. This song doesn’t just ask to be heard, it asks to be felt. And in the end, it leaves behind more than just melody; it leaves a piece of the artist’s soul echoing in your own. For anyone who has ever stood at the edge of being lost and whispered, Not yet, this is your anthem.
For more information about Mars_999, click on the icons below.