Berlin based Canadian DJ/Producer Nathan Micay has followed up on his impressive 2018 by announcing the release of his debut album Blue Spring. Formerly releasing music under the Bwana moniker, last year Toronto born Micay released two excellent EPs under his own name. The first was o17 for London label Whities which sported the super solid electro-house cut ‘First Casualty’ which got quite a workout across the festival circuit in the Northern Hemisphere summer. He also showed his penchant for employing melodic forms of techno, sub bass and breakbeat on his two tracker EP on ESP. His other release included another House inspired track, the super buoyant ‘Basic Plumbing’ for On Loop’s Moxie Presents series.
Blue Spring is based on a concept that involves as a starting point reimagining the police state like raids that took place at the 1992 Castlemorton festival and a futuristic world without social media based on real and lasting personal connections. The album’s themes were outlined in script form by Micay and then adapted into a comic by Peter Marsden. It was then illustrated by Dominic Flannigan as a tribute to the highly-influential Manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo, whom Micay has used as inspiration for previous work. In the words of the album’s press release;
“Espousing learning how to embrace moments without the need for recorded smartphone and social media evidence to validate it, ‘Blue Spring’ explores the connections and cycles of youth and music, in times of fast change and upheaval. It takes the Castlemorton clash between ravers and authorities as its starting point, and transposes it to an imaginary world. The comic sees a young data miner rebel by attending a rave in the woods with her friends, only for the event to be broken up by the ranks of a futuristic police state. ‘Blue Spring’ is the start of the revolution.
Music wise, Blue Spring continues Micay’s determination to use a myriad of electronic genres and styles in often unconventional ways and includes nods to trance, techno, hardcore, jungle, ambient and progressive House. The first single to be lifted from it is the appropriately named no nonsense four to the floor number ‘The Party We Could Have Had’, where a dark groove combines the best aspects of progressive house and melodic techno but does it in a way that avoids the cheesy tropes and schtick involved in many of today’s dreaded Tech-House amalgams.
Blue Water is out on May 3 through LuckyMe. Every vinyl copy includes a copy of the aforementioned comic and is available to pre-order here. Whet your appetite for that by listening to ‘The Party We Could Have Had below.
Tracklist – Nathan Micay – Blue Spring
1. Romance Dawn For The Cyber World
2. Join Me Or Die. Can You Do Any Less
3. Ecstacy Is On Maple Mountain
4. He Has The Key
5. Blue Spring
6. 11.11.90 [Beat Version]
7. Moon Scepter Elimination
8. LeafCutAngelicDepths
9. The Party We Could Have
10. May All Your Bacon Burn
11. Romance Dawn For The New World
The Party We Could Have
Nathan Micay (CAN)
From the forthcoming album, ‘Blue Spring’, LuckyMe.
Audio Stream