We’re very pleased to announce today that Mike Simonetti, previously of Troubleman Unlimited and Italians Do It Better, has joined the Captured Tracks/Omnian Music Group stable.

Recently, Simonetti decided to split from Italians Do It Better to focus on his new project, Pale Blue, as well as his new venture: the freshly minted label 2MR (Two Mikes Records). A collaboration between Simonetti and Captured Tracks founder Mike Sniper (whose own band Blank Dogs was released on Troubleman in 2008), 2MR is an opportunity for Simonetti to start from a blank slate and release music he believes in.

He will bring his impressive track record to the new imprint.. Simonetti’s first label, Troubleman Unlimited was launched in 1993, around the time that he was gaining acclaim as a DJ in New York’s lawless club scene. By the end of it’s ten-year run, the label would yield seminal releases by The Walkmen, Zola Jesus, Titus Andronicus, Prurient, Unwound, Glass Candy, Chromatics and many more. His next venture, the partnership with Johnny Jewel entitled Italians Do It Better, was an immediate success. The first release, a synth pop compilation called After Dark, was critically acclaimed and credited with starting a new wave of the Italo-disco sound.

The first release on 2MR will be The Past We Leave Behind, the debut album from Pale Blue. Pale Blue, referencing the term “Pale Blue Dot,” coined by Carl Sagan to refer to a photograph of planet Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe in 1990, was originally conceived around the time that Hurricane Sandy hit New York and came to completion with Simonetti’s severance from Italians. Thus, many of the tracks that make up The Past… grapple with themes of loss and new beginnings.

The Past We Leave Behind encompasses a myriad of sonic elements, ranging from rhythmic, melodic techno to atmospheric ambient productions, while also incorporating Simonetti’s varied background in noise, drone, and even experimental dream pop. Above it all though, singer Liz Wight’s vocals remain the focal point, saturating the record with a lush melodic warmth that’s so often missing in the electronic world.

Stream the title track and first single below and receive it instantly when pre-ordering the digital albumon iTunes.