#TBT | Mike Foyle - Firefly (Mark Sherry Outburst Remix)

Burst Forth Like A Firefly!

Every once in a while, you find a gem in the record boxes of yesteryear. As a personal challenge, I’m selecting a tune from this week in a randomized year to peruse for #ThrowbackThursdays here at EDM Identity.

Rewind the clock to 2007 – Armin was peaking, Tech-Trance was a huge but infant sound, and well… Trance was, perhaps, in a creative heyday. Now 10 years later, we look into the rearview mirror and see the burgeoning sound yet again.

Mike Foyle, by the year 2007, was no longer a newcomer to the Trance market. He firmly established himself with the immaculate “Love Theme Dusk,” a collaborative piece in 2005 with Signalrunners, aka Andrew Bayer & Alan Nimmo. Following what would be Armin van Buuren’s opening track at Sensation White 2005, Mike pushed out “Shipwrecked” in 2006. Then 2007 rolled in with the stellar “Firefly.”

The stunning section of “Firefly” is hands down the piano performance that is woven straight into the track.

It is both haunting and breathtaking, and a relic of a style of Trance that seems so distant from today’s sound. The original was a deeply powerful piece, but there was always something about the beauty of Mark Sherry’s remix on the track that grabbed me.

Mark’s remix is a powerful, driving, superb piece of Tech-Trance.

It is no surprise the driving bass line has become a Techy signature of Mark’s style over the years, as it provides the groove and the modus operandi for how he mixes. The piano breakdown is found here, in full performance, but Mark’s mix amps it up a notch with more tension than I found in the original. There’s a style of pan in the build that just makes me eager to dance. The stabs and drumrolls deftly breath energy and life…. And then there is the drop. In it, I hear the cryogenic blast that has become synonymous with club life.

As I played the track of the years, on vinyl in clubs and bars, I always felt this easy attachment to it. The track somehow balances transition phases throughout a night – a final track for the next guy to jump on the decks with an energetic crowd, an ode to the Techno breakdown to help pull the tempo on the dancefloor. I also had this deft fader chop that just felt so right in a number of places with this one.

Mark Sherry recently swung by San Diego, my hometown for a Lucent night, and it was great to hear that energy again (sneaky sneaky – check the full 6 hours of his OTC set by clicking here!).

Last time I saw him I had him autograph the vinyl for me – a touching moment for a track that helped build my sound in nightlife years ago when I first hit the wheels of steel with a residency. I guess one could say… it helped me burst out!

Unfortunately, these days Mike Foyle has stopped producing these days as he pursues other passions like photography, but we’ll forever have the beauty of his mid-2000’s music productions. Thanks for the memories Mike.