Surprise!
I wanted to drop something special for you guys as a Christmas gift. A brand new track, completely free for you to download and keep right now, with a Spotify release coming soon.
This one is a direct sequel to one of my personal favourites, Bleed. Diadu reprises her role on vocals, and I’ve delivered a groovy, driving punch of high-energy tech trance, slick rap, and all the signature EverLight sound you’ll instantly recognise.
Consider it a thank you and a bit of a consolation prize, for me largely vanishing in 2025.
I also wanted to use this post as a platform to give you some real talk about why I disappeared, and what’s happening.
Yeah… I dropped off the trance map compared to a couple of years ago. Since then, a lot more has shifted in my mind.
A huge part of this is the state of the internet. I grew up loving this place because it was an endless library of factual knowledge and genuine niche communities. Nobody cared where you came from or how many followers you had. Only what you contributed. I learned music production on forum friends before YouTube existed, lived through MySpace and early social media, and basically found my identity online. It shaped me into the geeky, introverted musician I am today.
It also taught me that the internet — not real life events — was the best place for someone like me to build a fanbase at my own pace.
Now? Every platform (except Patreon) feels like a noisy casino full of AI slop, click-bait, misinformation, and ad-driven chaos. For someone who values depth, skill, and meaningful conversations, keeping up a social presence here is exhausting.
Ironically, a noisy nightclub is a much better environment for real connection and expression, but life means I can’t be out clubbing like I used to (more on that soon).
For an introverted geek who just wants to make cool stuff and share it, the modern internet feels completely opposite to what it once was. Or at least it's much harder to use to that effect. It used to give musicians like me a voice. Now it feels like it does the opposite, and that’s not the internet I fell in love with.
So I stepped back. I’ve been reading magazines again, watching high-quality long-form content, getting my enrichment in ways online used to provide — and rediscovering offline hobbies (video games included).
On the other hand, the trance scene I came from just hasn’t evolved its sound much. As a “career path,” it doesn’t pull me the way it used to. Techno is great — but I love backing the underdog — and it’s become so massive and commercial that I don’t have the same fire for it as I did for trance twenty years ago. And the throwaway nature of music in general these days doesn’t help either.
But here’s the thing. I hit every goal I set for myself twenty years ago. I built the brand I wanted. I founded a label with critical success. I got paid to travel the world. I played dream gigs. And I experienced all the best of it with my now-wife. On reflection, the only way “up” from here would be to repeat the cycle at a bigger scale, and that doesn’t excite me really. Not in the way exploring something genuinely new does.
Remember, I grew up online with a real thirst for learning. So what does excite me is new stuff. Multimedia, video games, cross-genre stuff, soundtracks, and projects that let me grow in new directions. Frustratingly however, a lot of the work I've done over the last two years is under NDA, so I can’t share anything yet. And honestly, with how awful algorithms are now, fighting for visibility on the small stuff isn’t time well spent compared to just learning or making stuff. So I just cracked on.
Meanwhile life also shifted.
I got a new job last year. It's more demanding, but also more rewarding.
Home and family life needed more of me, in a good way.
I picked up offline hobbies again.
All of the above rant means I have less time, and the time I do have needs to go toward things that mean something… not into staying “visible” on a broken internet, and doing the same things over and over.
Going Forward
So if that's all the stuff I'm not doing, what am I actually doing?
I’m still making music including trance. I know a lot of you miss my sound, and I love making it. But it’s on a “when I feel like it” basis, without pressure or deadlines.
Engineering work (mixdowns/masters) is still very much available. It keeps my skills sharp, and I enjoy it. Visit my website, and message me if you want to chat about a project.
I’m exploring lots of genres for fun and learning. No big strategy, I'm just making what I want to make when I feel like it. All of it will have that EverLight sci-fi edge, though.
Gigs and DJ sets are off the table for now. Except in rare circumstances. Generally I simply don’t have the time, and I’ve always preferred producing to performing anyway.
BlackNet is on hold. Same reason. Time and priorities.
Many big projects are NDA-locked, so updates will be slow. I’ll share things here when there’s actually something to share . That means no posting for posting’s sake.
Expect low-key single releases, free stuff, and a chill pace. I don’t need big splashes anymore. I just want to share my work with the people who actually care. Like the old internet forum days.
Educational content is on hold. Time is limited, and I said most of what I wanted to say in Reflections and the books. All of which are still available via Patreon sub or my Patreon store.
I genuinely appreciate everyone still here, still listening, still supporting. You’re the reason I bother writing these long updates at all.
I’m still creating — just not on the timeline of “the scene” anymore. And honestly, after 20 years of being semi-professional, hitting the reset button and going back to being an enthusiastic amateur hobbyist is genuinely exciting. It feels like being a teenager again, messing around, exploring, experimenting. And I can’t wait to share more music and weird little projects with you as that energy keeps growing.
See you all in 2026!
