Daryl Stay - Orbit (2024)

Daryl Stay is an underground stalwart with roots going back more than 25 years. The Ploy Recordings founder has seen and done it all in that time and feeds all those experiences into his potent productions, mixing authentic stripped-back sounds with plenty of new school ideas. He has released them on the likes of Second State, Tronic, Octopus and Intec and now unveils a long-awaited debut album that marks his most significant body of work to date. This most stylish and heady album opens up with 'Surge,' four minutes of scene-setting ambiance and sci-fi electronics that ride on an undulating rhythm before the brilliant 'Orbit' brings rolling and linear techno drums and edgy synth stabs. 'Techno' is a stripped-back cut with Jeff Mills-style synths weaving tightly around the drums, 'Tribe' is a sleek minimal cut with rippling drums and bass locking you into a meditative state and 'Sonar' allows a moment to catch your breath with a slower broken beat loop that rocks back and forth beneath menacing synths. The superb 'Leo' is a deep, dubbed-out but heavyweight cut, while 'Fracture' returns to mind-melting and melodic techno minimalism. 'Spor' and 'Vice' get freaky with more unhinged synth details and high-pressure drum loops, and closer 'Blank' is a futuristic ambient track with pulsating synths that leave you adrift in the cosmos.