Serendipity seems to play a large part in Crosstown Rebels’ new label Secret Teachings. The first release on the label, Music Inspired By The Film Beijing Spring, came about after producer, DJ, and label founder Damian Lazarus met director Andy Cohen in a nightclub in Geneva. The story of how Lazarus met Miraclis is even more extraordinary – a chance midnight encounter in Pucón, Chile, at a woodland campfire after Damian was locked out of his hotel room. This meeting of minds was the start of a remarkable friendship. Miraclis invited the DJ to stay at his house and break bread with his family, and the two kept in touch, exchanging music and ideas.

Opening the proceedings is the heavy, emotive single Trapped. It’s joined by some very special interpretations from Audion aka Matthew Dear. Matthew picks up the mandate with aplomb, exposing Miraclis to the dancefloor, synapse frying, and tweaking Max’s vocal in the process. These are proper remixes. A short film and album follow on Secret Teachings in July.

Miraclis earned his stripes as a DJ under the name Max Clementi in his native Chile as well as Spain after a stint at the Barcelona SAE Institute. Playing and writing music since his parents gave him his first guitar at age twelve, he found himself inspired by synth wave, electronic pop, trip hop, and psychedelic rock of the ‘80s and ‘90s, drenching himself in music by the likes of Massive Attack, Tricky, Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails. However, it wasn’t until he had to move back to Pucón to take care of his father during the pandemic that he began working on what would become Origin of Truth in earnest.