Welcome to Sunrise Sessions! Every Sunday morning, we find tracks that best exemplifies the chilled, low energy vibes of early Sundays to start your day off on the right foot. We want to show you what many are missing and help you discover an entire ecosystem of music that’s waiting to be explored. Not to be held down by genres, we look into music in a variety of styles, including Progressive, Deep House, Ambient and even tracks that aren’t a part of EDM! Singles, remixes, mashups, bootlegs, edits and collaborations will be featured as well as a wide variety of artists ranging from established, well known names to people who purely reside in the underground.
Today, on the first ever Sunrise Sessions, we take a look at an alter alias of Progressive House champion Arty, back when he still resided in the realm of Anjunabeats and Trance. Way back near the beginning of this artist’s career in 2009, he had created a couple of unreleased tracks with his first official track of Sunset being released under Shah Music Recordings. Not even affiliated with Anjunabeats at this point, Arty was just a simple musician who had promising signs of a bright future ahead of him. During this period of humble beginnings, he had created an alter alias that has largely gone unnoticed (or forgotten) by many fans of Arty now. His wonderful Alpha 9 persona reached into the softer, more laid back styles of the then Trance-infused Arty and delved into the gentle breezes of true Progressive. His Alpha 9 name was not an essential part of his career, as he had only created two pieces for the name, (and one of those pieces is still unreleased to this day). However, his single of Bliss did get an official release, and just as the name implies, the track is a gorgeous example of the healing wonders that is Progressive.
Bliss starts with plucky Progressive synths underneath a sturdy percussion section and flowing basslines. As the phrase, ‘To calm me down‘ is uttered by a female vocal, a cascading harmonic woodblock brings an incredibly peaceful melody to the forefront. The simplicity of Bliss is its greatest strength as it gives the soothing bassline and the lullaby-esque rhythmic ostinatos a chance to really shine through all the textures. As the beat pulls back, the Progressive synths begin growing and growing, becoming more expansive and grandiose before receding like the ocean waves into a chilled section that harkens back to the beginning (with some subtle percussion additions). The breakdown submerges the piece in an underwater atmosphere where time has stopped and nothing but the swirling of ones fingers can be seen or felt. Arty‘s masterful orchestration is apparent here; as each voice has a chance to fully speak its message loud and clear. However, everything works together like clockwork as each voice is essential to the construction of an organic spectacle of sounds and colors beautifully expanding throughout the soundscape. With flowing pads, delightful melodies, sublime percussion and amazing intricacies, it is a piece that was made from the heart and is one to drift away to. Listeners forget the problems of the world and just become lost, carried off by the marvelous sounds of Alpha 9.
Alpha 9‘s single, Bliss, is out now on Aleph Recordings, so make sure you head on over to Beatport to pick up this stunning piece. Make sure to also check out the more Trance-like Club Mix as well! Tune in next week on Sunrise Sessions as we grab some delicious Deep House to start your morning right.
Keep the music alive. -Q
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/200474/Bliss
Sources
http://www.1001tracklists.com/artist/5902_arty/index.html
true story, right on the brink before edm went commercial and trance died out.