Many argue that every successful musical project must rise and fall. Peaks and valleys in a longer piece help to keep listener attention and ensure emotional engagement. Dutch producer Jordy Saamena, better known by his stage name GANZ, a proven remix-master, showed ultimate emotional control in his original EP, GAO, released yesterday from his own The Hard Headed record label.
The beauty of the piece lies in Saamena’s ability to sculpt his beats around those invited to feature on the project, while maintaining a sense of continuity between very distinct tracks. Light Years, the first song on the project, develops slowly around Australian singer Maribelle’s dazzling vocals, only introducing heavy bass hits just before its conclusion. In Frolyfe, Saamena displays his ability to craft unique hip hop beats, developing a vibrant backdrop for the relentless rhymes of Dutch-American rapper Digitzz. GAO’s focal point lies in the collaboration track Lone, with What So Not producer Emoh, and featuring another Australian vocalist in Joy, despite its original release in early April. The pairing of Joy’s pop-style vocals with a colossal drop will surely have crowds swaying throughout this year’s festival season. Saamena regains a quickened pace in a second hip hop dominated track, GAOBEAR, featuring U.K. rapper Dusty. English-accented lyricism pairs perfectly with Saamena’s dramatic, high-pitched synths. It stands out almost immediately as the most aggressive track on GAO. Maintaining a rise-and-fall pattern, Faded develops at snail’s pace before dropping the roof in on female vocal loops. The project goes full circle, ending on the climactic ballad Dark Places, with vocals from fellow Dutchman, Muki. With plenty of reverb, the song feels wide open up until the introduction of a poignant string melody.
Known for his ability to rework hit songs into EDM bangers, Saamena puts his creativity and artisanship on full display in GAO, moving fluidly between featured artists and acoustic moods. He finds a way to highlight his unrivaled trap-hip hop-future bass style by bringing out the best in everyone he works with throughout this spectacularly diverse project.
Stream Ganz's GAO EP here
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Written By: Aaron Nelson