We created the problem.
We prayed for the solution.
Maybe God isn’t coming to save us.
Get up.
There comes a moment in the miserable comedy of human existence when you realize that God, assuming one is up there somewhere, has probably grown tired of answering the telephone. We have spent centuries inventing elaborate explanations for our own stupidity, blaming fate, temptation, original sin, and occasionally the Devil himself for disasters bearing our unmistakable fingerprints. We pray (or at the least hope) for deliverance from wars we started, economic systems we designed, and appetites we cultivated with considerable enthusiasm. Somewhere along the way, salvation became another service we expected somebody else to provide. Perhaps the universe has finally decided to leave us on hold until we figure out how to clean up our own goddamn mess.
Austin, Texas darkwave and electronic rock outfit Mass Minor, the project led by Andrew J. Martin, Jr., has apparently reached a similar conclusion, and has chosen to deliver the bad news at 169 beats per minute. Their new single, Get Up, released through Metropolis Records, takes the ancient human pastime of pleading with the Almighty and subjects it to the considerable pressures of modern electronic music, where questions of sin, mortality, money, and spiritual bankruptcy compete for attention with synthesizers and electric guitars.
“This song is a conversation with God at 169 BPM about sin, money, mortality and the things we sacrifice our lives to,” explains Martin. “It comes from this idea of asking God to save us from problems we created ourselves. Maybe it’s not God’s job to save us. Maybe we need to fix our own shit. You’re the one holding the light. Get up.”
It’s a splendidly irreverent proposition, particularly in an age when nearly everybody seems convinced that civilization’s problems can be solved by finding the proper villain, purchasing the appropriate product, or waiting for some celestial authority to intervene. Martin locates the uncomfortable little truth buried beneath all that bargaining: we’ve become remarkably proficient at manufacturing our own misery and equally accomplished at outsourcing responsibility for it.
Musically, Mass Minor inhabits the territory where Depeche Mode’s electronic sensuality intersects with the widescreen emotional ambitions of Tears for Fears, the mechanical urgency of Nine Inch Nails, and the darker inclinations of Gary Numan. Martin’s combination of atmospheric synthesizers, driving guitars, and electronic rhythms lends itself naturally to a song concerned with the absurd velocity of contemporary life. At 169 BPM, Get Up makes its philosophical argument at a speed suggesting that humanity may be running out of time to consider the consequences of its more spectacular mistakes.
There’s also a fine streak of gallows humour running through the premise. Imagine finally getting an audience with the Creator, only to discover that your carefully prepared list of grievances reads suspiciously like an inventory of your own terrible decisions. The Almighty might reasonably ask why a species capable of splitting atoms, mapping distant galaxies, and inventing machines that can imitate thought remains incapable of exercising a little common sense. Martin has supplied a considerably shorter answer, and it comes with a beat you can move your body to.
The accompanying music video, directed by Teresa Jolie, with editing and visual effects by Beau Jason Loy and production by Simon Mars, brings the song’s themes into a more mysterious, symbolic realm. Starring Amy Martin, the video follows a blindfolded woman, perhaps an embodiment of Justice herself, as she wanders through a dark forest, singing into the darkness while navigating a world she cannot see. The imagery lends an allegorical dimension to the song, raising questions about truth, perception, and the peculiar predicament of Justice trying to find her way without sight.
Watch the video for Get Up below:
Get Up appears on Beyond The Edge Of Reason, the project’s forthcoming album, scheduled for release in late February 2027. The record follows Mass Minor’s independently released 2020 debut, Become Each Other, and a succession of singles and EPs that have accompanied Martin’s growing presence in the dark alternative scene. Multiple appearances at SXSW and performances alongside Twin Tribes, Ultra Sunn, TRAITRS, Vision Video, Urban Heat, and Sacred Skin have helped establish the project within a generation of artists drawing fresh blood from the old electronic and post-punk traditions.
Humanity has always possessed a peculiar appetite for redemption, especially when redemption promises to spare us the inconvenience of changing our behavior. We construct heavens to compensate for the hells we’ve made on earth, then spend our remaining hours arguing over who deserves admission. Meanwhile, the poor, battered world continues turning, indifferent to our theological negotiations.
If God exists, perhaps He’s waiting for us to demonstrate that we have learned something from the extraordinary privilege of being alive. If He doesn’t, the responsibility remains exactly where it always belonged.
Either way, the light is already in our hands, and we’re wasting precious time asking somebody else to switch it on.
Listen to Get Up below and order the single here.
Follow Mass Minor:
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