MUMBAI: One of Spinnin’ Records mainstays, Amsterdam talent Jay Hardway is well known for his hard-hitting EDM sound, with a particular penchant for larger-than-life riffs. Recent cuts like Stardust and El Mariachi continued his strong body of work, but now it’s time for something a little different in the form of his new release Somnia.

While he has made his name with his colourful, energy-packed productions, Somnia takes things in a deeper, slower and more blissed-out direction. Inspired by classic ‘90s trance sounds, his glorious new track is a lesson in subtlety and succinctly powerful melody. Gorgeous chime melodies are paired with vocodered vox and subtle pad sounds in the breaks before a classic-sounding synth arpeggio bursts into life along with heavenly counter melodies. The drop brings in a gently warbling lead line that plays out a simple but beautiful melody to top things off, with gentle synth chords pulsing on the off-beats for a final touch of atmospheric magic.

Jay says: “With this track I wanted to do something different from what everyone is used from me. I also want to do something different from everything that is being released by other dj’s right now. I feel like it’s an experiment to try and push boundaries in the scene that I am in and I want to push myself to be original with every release.”

With over 400,000 plays so far for the preview clips, it looks like Jay’s new sound is going to go down a storm. Recently road-tested at Mysteryland and at gigs in Italy and Switzerland, it makes for a seriously exciting new step in Jay’s fast-rising career.

Jay Hardway ‘Somnia’ is via Spinnin’ Records is out now.