Some returns feel like an artist remembering what they are for. ALPHA 9 is the trance alias Artem Stoliarov saves for the widescreen stuff, the part of him that reaches for the stars instead of the radio, and hearing it aim at the cosmos again does something to me. The new one is Dark Matter, his Dreamstate Records debut.
It is instrumental, cosmic trance at 132 BPM, built like a transmission from somewhere far out. The press notes point to driving bass pressure under futuristic atmospheres, densely layered synths, twinkling keys and cinematic sweeps that keep climbing. This is peak-time trance-room music, the kind you want with the lights down or on a night drive under open sky.
ARTY has always run two lanes: the vocal-melodic pop side you know from records like Stronger, and the instrumental world he keeps under ALPHA 9. Dark Matter opens an episodic chapter, the releases tied together by journal entries that slowly tell the story of a classified character adrift in space. I love that he is treating a single like a chapter.
Dark Matter is out now on Dreamstate Records. Put it on loud, let it pull you somewhere, and start the journal.
Listen on: SoundCloud · Tidal · Pandora
