2DCAT release four-track darkwave EP ‘We’re Here’ with title-track video
Washington, D.C. duo 2DCAT released the self-released four-track EP “We’re Here” on 21 August 2026, with a video for the title track and handbuilt synths.

Washington, D.C. darkwave duo 2DCAT released the four-track EP “We’re Here” on 21 August 2026 as a self-released digital edition, together with a video for the title track. The EP is credited to Johan Hauck and HAEZL, and downloads are offered in MP3, FLAC and 24-bit/44.1 kHz.
The tracklist runs “We’re Here”, a Blue Rose edit of the 2024 single “Frames”, “Never Enough” and “Salvation Will Not Come”. No physical edition has been issued.
Who is speaking on the 2DCAT track ‘We’re Here’
The title track is written from the point of view of the dead, addressing the living. Hauck was direct about how the lyric should be read, and about the reassurance in the chorus line “We’re here to remind you you’re never alone”:
“We wouldn’t blame anyone for hearing this as hopeful. The gates being steeled, the door appearing, the path looking clear… that’s not hope. That’s dying. The dead are your guides because they’ve already made that walk.”
HAEZL, an opera singer, delivers the vocal without theatrical menace. Hauck builds and fabricates the synthesizers heard on the track himself, and designs analogue instruments and FPGA-based hardware from scratch. The arrangement draws on early European synthpop and darkwave, with measured tempo and severe textures. The video keeps the frame near-black, with unstable light and coarse grain.
“We’re Here” belongs to a run of recent singles pointing toward a next 2DCAT album, which has not yet been announced.
About 2DCAT
2DCAT are a dark synthpop duo based in Washington, D.C., built around analogue synthesizers and drawing on synth music of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Johan Hauck handles synthesizers, drum machines and arrangements and has played in electro-industrial bands for around two decades. HAEZL sings and plays theremin, and has worked as a backing singer for The Beach Boys, Patti LaBelle, Cynthia Erivo, Renée Fleming and The Filharmonic, with television appearances on VH1, TLC and The Today Show. Guitarist Ulf has also appeared in the lineup.
The project began releasing on Bandcamp in January 2019 with “Electric”, followed by “Summer, 1983” in April 2019 and “03:00” in September 2019. Three releases arrived in 2020: “Delaware is Burning” in February, “Modern Dystopia” in April and “Weeks Where Decades Happen” in November. “Fantastic Voyage” appeared in December 2022 and “Data Fusion” in September 2023.
Seven releases followed in 2024: “The Darkest Hour” in March, “Love and Life (Part 2)” in April, “Falling Down” in May, “Take My Hand” in July, the set “Covers” in August, the single “Frames” in September and “Elegy” in November. “Covers” included a version of Allie X’s “Off With Her Tits”, reported at the time in 2DCAT cover Allie X track ‘Off With Her Tits’ – Out now. A remix collection followed in January 2025, “This is not for you.” in July 2025 and “Eat The Rich” in May 2026. Every release to date has come out without a label.
The duo played their first German club dates in July 2026: Köln’s Club Volta on 24 July as part of the Echoes of Rebellion festival, Munich’s Theater Drehleier on 30 July and Leipzig’s Darkflower on 31 July. “We’re Here” is their first release since those shows.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
