An accomplished artist with over 300 production credits, Katrin Souza made another indelible stamp on the progressive house scene in February 2019 with "A Dark Forest" on Droid9. As the Russian returns to Yin and Yang, the accompanying track, "Calm Before the Storm," receives remixes from Indonesia and Egypt.

No stranger to the electronic music scene, Hazem Beltagui has achieved considerable success under his own name as creator of the "melotrance" genre. Using his Ampish moniker to express a "deeper, groovier side," the Egyptian artist has seen a century of tracks signed to a raft of labels including Cid Inc's Replug, Jerome Isma-Ae's Jee Productions and John 00 Fleming's JOOF Aura. A debut for Yang in November 2018 saw a remix of Hot TuneiK's "Revival," as Ampish now returns to the label to rework "Calm Before the Storm."

A smooth and masterful production sees a chest-thumping kick paired with breathy pads and delayed synths in the opening stages. Cleverly using the lead synth riff from Souza's original, Ampish gradually filters the sequence into sonic view, looping and extending its range with a new phrase full of grace and poise. The result is a powerful and dynamic new interpretation that showcases the Egyptian's talent.

Directed/AandR by Tripp Baronner
Mastered by Ampish
Design by *caption - followthecaption.com
Text by James Warren