Love Letters

Italian DJ and producer Pancratio lands on Love On The Rocks with ‘Love Letters’, his first EP for PARAMIDA’s Berlin-based label. The record, another bold and unique entry in the label’s impressive catalogue, arrives after a decade of behind-the-scenes influence and personal artistic evolution for Pancratio, marking a turning point in his journey: from anonymous studio architect to an expressive, full-fledged solo artist. Pancratio has long been a quiet force in underground music. As the founder of Otta Res Lab, he spent years producing, mixing, and mastering records for other artists, building a reputation among insiders for his meticulous analog workflows and deeply felt soundscapes. Now, with ‘Love Letters,’ he turns the spotlight on himself. Crafted in just a matter of weeks during a period of profound personal transition, the EP tells the story of Pancratio’s relocation from Rome to Berlin, a leap of faith that would shape the emotional and sonic narrative of the release. Following a summer immersed in the city’s clubs and festivals, the producer returned to the studio with renewed clarity and purpose. What followed was a spontaneous burst of creativity: one track a day, each emerging with fluid ease from his fully analog setup.

“I called the record ‘Love Letters’ because it’s a message to all the people I left behind. It’s my way of saying: everything’s going great here. I made the right choice.” Pancratio

Pancratio’s music caught the attention of PARAMIDA thanks to the encouragement, and quiet hustle, of friends and collaborators Simone de Kunovich and Giammarco Orsini, both longtime allies of Pancratio and contributors to his label One Trip to Avyon. What began as an offhand suggestion turned into a fast-forming collaboration, with Pancratio sending a new track to PARAMIDA every day for a week. The EP took shape naturally from those exchanges. Out today, first single ‘I Promise’ builds an irresistible house groove into a hypnotic summer jam. That’s before Pancratio tears a hole in it it with a patchwork of vocal samples and off-pitch synths, snapping it out of its comfort zone and into completely unexpected territory before dropping it right back into the deep end. It’s a devastating sequence handled with the lightest touch, mirroring the twists and turns of its subject matter in a moment of sublime sonic storytelling

‘Love Letters’ continues Pancratio’s pursuit of emotional depth through minimalist, analog-rooted production. Each track is a one-take from start to finish, recorded straight from his hardware setup and only minimally mastered, evoking a tactile sense of warmth and spontaneity rarely found in today’s digital-heavy landscape. Drawing from his background as a self-taught bedroom producer and now a master of vintage gear, Pancratio imbues each track with a sense of immediacy and authenticity that feels equal parts intimate and ready for the dancefloor. The EP is heartfelt message to friends, to places once called home, and to everyone just now discovering his world.