Solaris Heights [B J Robson]

Muzik magazine placed his band’s single ‘Darkest Day’ in the Top 100 records of the year, DJ magazine hailed his Solaris Heights work an essential buy and he has re-mixed and worked with such renown artists as Jay-Z, Will Smith, Nina Miranda, Tears For Fears and Roy Ayers.

At the heart of the music is Bryan J Robson. Hailing from a small village swallowed up in the stark, sprawling, industrialized landscape of the North-East of England. A landscape that has no doubt contributed to Bryan’s, sometimes escapist, musical output. The deep Balearic beats of Solaris Heights, the Latin tinged, Sleazy-Listening of Nemo and the cosmopolitan, cinematic feel of the Streetlife Originals album ‘Sidewalk Stories’ is all a far cry from the bleak environs of Cleveland’s industrial heartland.

Since 1995, Bryan has been steadily releasing house records under numerous titles, for which he’s received high praise from fellow artists and the British Press alike, writing for labels such as Freerange, Naked Music, Boxersport, Guidance, JCR (Compost), Brique Rouge, Renaissance, Kickboxer, Paper Recordings, Azuli, SAW, Audio Therapy, Stereo Productions, Forensic Records, Movim, Chumbo Mundo, Airtight and Hooj Choonz. Working under the guise of Supernature, Tiny Stikz, Darktown Strutters, Black Atlantic, Nemo and East Village Heads, Bryan has established a reputation for continuously producing quality house records.

One of Bryan’s favourite long running projects is Solaris Heights. From their debut single on Paper Recordings ‘Solarism’, to ‘Fusique’, ‘Elementis’, ‘Sunlight’, 'Midnight', which gained praise and a place on the compilation albums of DJs such as Hipp-e, Sander Kleinenberg and Bill Brewster, to the beautifully warm song (and the BBC’s ‘Dance Track of the Week’!) ‘Just Begun’ on Freerange Records, Bryan (with varying line-ups) has constantly created deep house with that sometimes rare quality in house music…depth of feeling.

Another of his projects, Streetlife Originals, was so well received, Paper Recordings asked him to write an album. ‘Sidewalk Stories’ was his first long player, and was released in ‘99. Bryan’s aim was to write an almost ‘cinematic’ album that evoked the feeling of a film score or soundtrack, whilst still being relevant to the House and Balearic genres that he loved. The first single ‘Lara’s Theme’ (in homage to his favourite Playstation game), gained much praise from DJs on both sides of the Atlantic, and even prompted the claim by Kerri Chandler that, “This is the best thing Paper Records has ever released”, and DJ Magazine wrote about the L.P, “We cannot stress this enough, acquire this immediately”. Sidewalk Stories brought Bryan to the attention of Naked Music, where he re-mixed the Aquanote releases, ‘True Love’ and ‘Only’, and released the Streetlife Originals single ‘Don’t leave me behind’.

Bryan’s second album was for U.K. house imprint Hooj. For this latest album Bryan created a new moniker, Novascotia. Bryan's aim to create a more involved album led to collaborations with Nina Miranda (Smoke City), Sally Rogers (A Man Called Adam), Azeem (Weekender) and jazz funk legend Roy Ayers, but disaster struck when the Hooj label was dissolved, and the album was lost forever! One single was released from the LP featuring the vocal talents of Jess Okuro, the track, 'Loose Leaves', was well received by the music press and deep house DJ's alike. Along-side Bryan’s album commitments, Hooj (and its sister label, Airtight) had been steadily releasing his singles and remixes under other guises, one of the most popular being the New Order-esque Novascotia remix of Echo Men’s ‘Through 2 U’ which featured on numerous compilations, including ‘The Sound Of Renaissance’ alongside another seminal deep house track of Bryans, Solaris Heights’ ‘Midnight’.

In ’07 Bryan stepped things up with Solaris Heights, putting them firmly back on the dance-floor. The first two singles with Renaissance, ‘Vice’ (with a huge Jerome Sydenham remix licensed to Tiesto’s ‘In Search of Sunrise’ compilation), and the follow up ‘No Trace’ (with possibly one of the finest of Popof’s remix outings of late) have fired Bryan and co-member Anton Fielding into the realms of creating deep, tech, floor fillers. Teaming up with the excellent German techno label Boxer, Solaris Heights is continuing its advance with two E.Ps the first, ‘Luminesk’, has the single ‘Thema’, being supported by the likes of Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier and Peter Kruder. Also out now is ‘Rekollection’ on Audio Therapy, with a fantastic Tocadisco remix. This release is already getting support from Chris Lake, Laurent Garnier and Anthony Pappa, and to round things up nicely, Solaris Heights’ remix of Tocadisco’s massive track ‘Morumbi’ has just been released on Superstar Records! Boxer E.P two has its release in Oct ’08, and the wonderfully warm melodic ‘Erzengel’ on French house label Brique Rouge, with a fantastic Agent Toga remix, is released Nov ’08. Finally, Bryan’s new solo project Rievaulx has its debut release with AA-side ‘Boxing Shadows’ and ‘Animo’ on Boxer offshoot Kickboxer this autumn, bringing more of his trademark crisp beats paired with insistent melodies.

Bryan also DJs! He’s played in clubs in the U.K. (Newcastle – Foundation [home of ‘Shindig]), (London - Blue Note, Electricity Showrooms) and (Ibiza - Es Paradis, Long Play, Night Life), although you were more likely to find Bryan in a studio rather than a DJ booth…not any more! He’s now signed to MFM Agency in Germany, alongside some amazing DJ talent such as Dusty Kid, Mason, Tocadisco, Motorcitysoul, Zoo Brazil and Marascia, and will be playing his own brand of emotive grooves that move the heart as much as the feet…