Armada Music brings ARTY back with ‘Sunrise

Armada Music has ARTY back on its roster. ‘Sunrise’ arrives 19 January — his first new material on the label since he and Armin van Buuren put out ‘Nehalennia’ together, nearly five years back. ARTY calls it “a milestone and an incredibly important track” in his career, adding he’d already been “sneaking it into my live sets for the past few months” before the release. Most of that gap belonged to Alpha 9, his separate trance alias.

Chords and an emotive, wistful melody carry vocalist April Bender’s dreamy vocal over lyrics one description called contemplative, in a sound tied to “warm summer mornings” — the progressive house register ARTY says built his name before he leaned toward trance. ‘Sunrise’ puts him back in that register under his own name, following ‘Supposed To Be’, his previous release.

ARTY has framed ‘Sunrise’ as the first of a fuller run of new material through 2018.