Garuda Unveils Three Brilliant Remixes of “Surrender”

Darude and Ashley Wallbridge’s “Surrender” that features Foux gets a full remix treatment from Hixxy, NASH, and Alex Sonata and TheRio!

In 2018, Ashley Wallbridge and Darude teamed up to create the spectacular progressive trance track “Surrender”. This beauty of a song has layers upon layers of melodies paired with the sultry vocals from Foux woven together to create a gorgeous aural tapestry.

As a fan of the progressive side of the trance spectrum, “Surrender” quickly became one of my favorite records of the year. With every listen I was teleported back to the years when Ashley was collaborating with equally stunning progressive trance artists to release stunners such as “Faces” with Andy Moor and “Mansion” with Gareth Emery.

Recently, Garuda released three unique remixes of “Surrender” and invited 4 artists to contribute their unique perspective and breathe new life into the track. The artist selected to remix “Surrender” were Hixxy, NASH, and Alex Sonata and TheRio.

Purchase or stream “Surrender” (The Remixes) on your favorite platform today and read on for my take on the three remixes!

Stream Surrender (The Remixes) on Spotify:

By default, the Hixxy remix of “Surrender” is the most unique in the package.

While the other artists land on the trance spectrum, Hixxy is the only one who is known to create beloved happy hardcore tracks. Garuda has had a history of encouraging UK and happy hardcore remixes of their tracks, namely Darren Styles’ remix of Gareth Emery and Krewella’s “Lights and Thunder” and most recently Hixxy’s remix of “Saving Light”. That’s right, Hixxy has already put his happy hardcore touch on a Garuda track and the label must have loved it as they invited him back. After just one listen you can definitely see why!

Hixxy keeps the essence of the original track but ups the tempo while replacing the progressive melody with the signature piano, bouncy bass, and powerful kick. His version definitely brings those old school vibes which give the track a completely different feel.

As a happy hardcore devotee who lost it when Hixxy dropped his “Saving Light” remix at HTID in San Francisco, I am happy to report that this remix gives me that same feeling. Hixxy’s “Surrender” remix showcases why he continues to be one of the best happy hardcore producers out there!

With multiple releases this year, NASH is a fast-rising star on the Garuda label.

Earlier this year he worked with Ashley Wallbridge and Gareth Emery on “Vesper” and “Kal-El” on their recent collaborative album Kingdom United. The two aforementioned tracks show the range of works NASH can help create. “Vesper” is a heavy-hitting track whereas “Kal-El” is something of a sci-fi cinematic spectacle. As he takes influence from all genres of music, NASH is one to keep listeners on their toes as you’ll never know what he will throw out next.

Of the three, this sounds the most similar to the original but definitely stands out in a very important way as it is unbelievably powerful and unrelenting. Once the chorus passes, NASH releases an onslaught of delicious melodies and doesn’t let up until the end. This take genuinely sounds like a nice mix of classic Ashley Wallbridge and Gareth Emery but turned up to max speed as he is all about adding layers-upon-layers to get those cascading waves of sound!

Alex Sonata’s last few tracks have been collaborations with fellow Garuda progressive trance artist TheRio, so it makes sense that they came together to create magic.

Alex Sonata is hands down one of the most underrated artists within the trance scene. He shows his superb production ability when creating his masterful original tracks and numerous remixes. I’ll admit that I am not as familiar with TheRio outside of his work with Alex Sonata and his tracks on AVA Recordings but I look forward to taking a deep dive into his music catalog. Each track they release together has me enjoying TheRio’s range and influence on Sonata’s signature style.

It’s always interesting when progressive trance artists remix progressive trance tracks. There’s the battle of whether to add more melodies, more progression, and more arpeggios, or, conversely, to scale them back for a completely different sound. In their remix, Alex Sonata and TheRio seemed to choose the scale it back version.

They initially start with a hard bassline but as the lyrics began, the melodies become more ethereal and enchanting before exploding into an unrelenting festival style anthem! The interplay between these two feels throughout the track is superb and gives this remix a very distinctly beautiful feel.

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