Early Influences
"It's Michael Jackson..." my Mum tells me, probably fed up at this point because I haven't stopped asking her. I am confused because this isn't the answer I'm searching for, something tells me that it's more than just him I want to know about on this track and I am desperate to find it out.
I can't be older than 6 or 7 at this point, and already my love for music has taken over. Long before Shazam existed (and before you could hum a tune into Google) there was only an optimistic, fingers-crossed hope that you could identify a song you heard on the radio before it became untraceable again. I was interested in something beyond just the vocals, I wanted to know why the track sounded the way it did. Somewhere between 2005 and 2006, Hi_Tack released their track "Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U)" and it was across the radio everywhere. I like to think this is one of the first tracks that stood out to me from the very start, as my initiation into dance music.
I later fell in love with early Calvin Harris ("I'm Not Alone") and would also play Robert Miles's "Children" before getting out of the car to go to school.
I never slept much, even as a baby. I don't know why, but I always had too many thoughts in my head and the hours would tick by and I didn't feel tired. I would lay awake staring at the ceiling for hours. Strangely, I found the Ministry of Sound Gold Anthems II album to be one of the rare sounds that would make me feel safe enough to fall asleep. It felt homely and warm and I found myself enraptured by it.
As I got older, I found myself laughing whenever I heard Insomnia. I love 'Insomnia', in a way in which I'm sure everyone who adores electronic music naturally does. It is the hallmark of our sound and a track that has globally impacted the world in a timeless way.
I remember nights I lay wide awake as a child listening to this track (and definitely not old enough yet to understand the lyrics), but I felt an affinity. I felt understood. Truthfully, I didn't want to go to sleep! I wanted to love and understand this music forever.
Fast forward to turning 24, and I found myself on a plane to Milan watching the city lights switch on as the night descended. I was travelling to visit a close friend and incredible artist whom I'd had the pleasure to be able to work with. We were going to Milan's Superclub to watch him play. It was a pinch-me moment, a magical experience, and I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to get to go.
Insomnia felt like the perfect soundtrack for that moment, and I found myself revisiting those moments of being small. There was something in those nights I couldn't sleep... a dream that I had endlessly pursued, and there I was getting to really live it.
There's something to be said for revisiting the things you loved as a child, or even hearing your inner child out. You might just find the very thing you've been looking for.
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