Deus Ego: Finding Clarity in the Chaos

Deus Ego aren’t here to play by anyone else’s rules. The duo — Mark and Joe — operate in their own corner of Manchester’s DIY underbelly, crafting a sound that blurs the edges between indie, hyperpop, and cinematic electronica. Their latest single, “SEEN IN THE NIGHT”, out October 23 via Apollo Music, marks a striking turn inward — darker, more vulnerable, and brutally honest about what it means to exist with a neurodivergent mind in 2025.

Following the success of their previous single “MORBS” (which landed on Spotify Fresh Finds and BBC Introducing), “SEEN IN THE NIGHT” strips away the sheen to reveal something raw and human — a song about frustration, overstimulation, and trying to find meaning in the noise.

We spoke with Deus Ego about embracing imperfection, the state of support systems for young people, and why vulnerability is their strongest creative tool yet.

1. “SEEN IN THE NIGHT” feels like a raw snapshot of what it’s like to exist with a neurodivergent mind in a hyper-connected world. What moment or feeling first sparked the idea for the track?

Mark: It actually started out as a completely different song called 'Junk Mail', which never really quite sat right as a song, but over Christmas last year I re-wrote the song to form the basis of what it is now. The inspiration for the track came from frustration really, being bounced around several health services at the time and not being heard, an experience too many young people have to get through at the minute. I was diagnosed with OCD shortly before, so it's in part the frustration of dealing with health services around that, whilst constantly being bombarded with so much information from social media which led me to feel very overwhelmed at most things. A world with so much stimuli can so easily overwhelm you, sometimes you just need to get a bit frustrated about it and let it out. I think writing about the experience helped me personally to understand the situation.

2. The production blurs the line between indie, hyperpop, and cinematic electronic textures. How do you approach creating that balance — between chaos and clarity — in your sound?

Joe: I think it's less about achieving a balance and more about embracing the imperfections - finding the clarity in the chaos, and the chaos in the clarity. We're at a point where we're seeing so much content churned out through the AI-slop meat grinder and everything feels really disingenuous. So, learning to embrace human error, running with that to progress and evolve the production, makes things so much more fun and easier. Pushing the production more into the chaos at first is great, your brain then starts to interpret and perceive the clarity buried inside the cacophony of noise. It's almost like you're an AI-slop machine hallucinating, except it will always be infinitely better because you're doing the work and you can actually "hallucinate" new creative ideas, evolve them and imbue you personality and experiences into the production. Then from that point it's about giving things room to breathe, allowing moments in the production to enjoy themselves and really just trusting yourself with what sounds good. I could dive in and write a 6 part book deal about different production approaches, but it'll always just come back to learning to understand yourself and knowing what sounds good to you.

3. You describe this release as your most vulnerable yet. What does vulnerability look like for DEUS EGO in 2025, both personally and creatively?

Mark: There's something in the idea that vulnerability isn't just a negative, but it is also part of being open and honest about who you are. In the hyper-connected world we are in it's almost easy to hide the things we don't like about ourselves online, but in reality, those flaws are half the reason people engage with you in the first place and what set you apart from other people. For me, I'm just me, I don't care about perceptions anymore, nobody is perfect, I have a meltdown if I lose something or proper hangry if I've not eaten or if my routine is disrupted last minute, but does that matter enough to stress about or be insecure about like I have in the past? Not really.

Joe: For Deus it's definitely about just baring all and doing things in the way we want, with the freedom to write and produce what we want and how we want it. It's extremely cathartic and important to write from a place of truth and experience so you will inevitably have to be vulnerable on a topic by talking about it, and there is nothing at all wrong with that.

4. Your lyrics touch on inadequate support systems and the pressure of being young right now. How much of “SEEN IN THE NIGHT” comes from personal experience versus social observation?

Mark: Definitely personal experience but also you do hear similar stories to your experiences. I was definitely bounced around needlessly which was extremely frustrating to deal with, not to discredit the many good staff that work in these professions, more the state of the system itself. To feel alone and be bounced around healthcare services looking for an answer is not a good feeling at all, especially with the financial and social pressures that the youth face alongside it. Writing about it helps massively, it helps you think, process, and deal with the experience. Putting those lyrics into the public eye is a strange and scary feeling, which i guess links back to the vulnerability question, but it's important conversations on these topics continue and don't stop, and sometimes it's a bit too difficult to have the conversation normally.

5. Coming from Salford, there’s a real DIY spirit that runs through your work — from production to visuals. How do your surroundings and community shape the sound and message of DEUS EGO?

Mark: Operating out of Salford is a genuine blessing. Joe lives there full time and I flit between the East Midlands and Salford for work. It's like a little holiday every time we go to the studio which is great. Salford, and I suppose Manchester as a whole has this edge to it where you just feel like you are in a creative hub, which you don't get everywhere. You see gigs, musicians and artists creating so many cool works out of Manchester and Salford that you just can't escape, which is great for inspiration. We've always had a DIY focus for our stuff just because we like it to be ours, visuals, mixing, mastering - it's all done by us with no AI or outside influences and it's the way it will always stay. Art should be personal without the input of a label executive that doesn't ultimately care about the tone of the snare. Basing ourselves out of Salford feels like such a great fit at times and it's so much fun to be able to have that as an artist.

Joe: Also surrounding ourselves with people we care about and enjoy spending time with, having your own little community, being able to learn different points of view, it all helps with perspective and trying to constantly evolve and shape the sound we make.

“SEEN IN THE NIGHT” by Deus Ego is out October 23 via Apollo Music — a sharp, glitchy statement of intent from a duo determined to keep things human in an increasingly synthetic world.