Russian producer Artem Stolyarov presents a poignant tribute to his fans and to mental health awareness on ‘The Purpose Is You’, out now. Whether he’s ARTY or ALPHA 9, Artem is one of Anjuna’s brightest stars. Redefining trance and progressive with a festival edge in the early noughties, the likes of ‘Around The World’, ‘Kate’, ‘Rebound’ (with Mat Zo) and ’The Wonder’ helped shape the sound of the genre. His ALPHA 9 project went from strength to strength in 2020: highlights include the ‘Stellar EP’, ‘Everywhere I Go’ and ‘All That I Can’. He produced a faithful update of Above & Beyond and Zoë Johnston’s evergreen classic ‘Good For Me’, released in February 2021 on Anjunabeats. ‘The Purpose Is You’ is a deeply personal track to Artem, as he explains below. “It’s hard to find words that would outline the importance of this track to me. I’ve been nurturing this idea for a long time but making a song based on some of your worst life experiences and memories is very tough. Yet, it's an extremely important subject that needs much more attention and awareness so I want to share it with as many people as possible. Depression and anxiety are real and it’s terrifying. I went through severe depression myself a few years ago, I saw my friends going through the same struggle and sorely, some of them will never come back. But there was something that gave me a lot of hope and inspiration to make this song. It was messages from my fans, who were sharing the stories of them fighting depression. For some of them, music was the last boundary before they would be gone forever. I wanted to make this record as a reminder to myself and to anyone in need or going through dreadful times in their lives. Even in the moments when we feel the lowest and we see no reason to go on living, there is always someone or something worth living for. And beyond all, there is always a purpose: the person that you see in the mirror.”
