Deriving its name after the MAO-A gene, also known as “The Warrior Gene” for its connection to increasing aggression and perseverance, the emerging post-punk/indie rock project MØAA was conceived as a way to process a troubled past through a bunch of a demos that Jancy Rae wrote and recorded while living in the forests near Seattle. Eventually those demos morphed into the project’s just-released full-length debut Euphoric Recall.

About halfway through writing the album, Rae relocated to Venice, where she completed the writing and recording of the album with Andrea Volpato in isolation at Fox Studio. The album explores dark memories embedded with nostalgia paired with brooding soundscapes. Album single “X Marks” is a slow-burning and seemingly 4AD Records inspired track centered around shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, a driving motorik groove, atmospheric synths, ethereal, dueling boy-girl vocals and a soaring hook. The end result is a brooding track full of an uneasy and creeping trepidation.

Directed by Blau!, the recently released video for “X Marks” is a cinematically shot visual that features the duo walking through a snow-covered European looking forest, where they encounter two people burying something in the cold ground. It’s a fittingly eerie visual for such a brooding song.