First light Festival 2024 - The Soul Awakening mix

On June 23rd 2024, Colleen played a beautiful set at the "First Light Festival". I had to share it here as it perfectly highlights Colleen's sensitive way of mixing...

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About this mix. – Between two "Balearic Breakfast" episodes, Colleen plays festivals during the summertime. On June 23rd 2024, she was featured during the "2024 First Light Festival" (more info on their Facebook page and their Website). When sharing the picture she took during the festival, Colleen wrote: "A lovely snapshot of the last week’s summer solstice weekend at @firstlightlowestoft - turns out I not only love sunset sets but also sunrise sets! Must be the lark in me. I’ll post it up soon :)"

Lowestoft is the most easterly point in the UK, and Colleen was asked by Hemingway Design to play a DJ set on the beach to welcome the sun on the summer solstice weekend at the city’s annual renowned festival.

I wanted to share this mix on the blog because it is absolutely Balearic, of course, with music flowing freely and visiting many corners of the genre's spectrum, but also because it nicely demonstrates Colleen's musical ways... When listening to the opening track, I immediately thought about The Moody Blues 1967 studio album 'Days of Future Passed'... and I had a great laugh when I heard Colleen actually played "Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling" right after the opening track!

All in all, this is a beautiful set. In fact, it is a "Soul Awakening Mix", where every song is like an opening, a fresh start, "a heliocentric selection of music that heralds in a new dawn". Interesting idea, don't you think? I'm leaving you here on this reflecting note... Enjoy...

Listen Back to Colleen's Set at the 2024 First Light Festival:

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PLAYLIST

(2022) Sault – Air

(1967) The Moody Blues – Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling

(2002) Chris Coco (feat. Nick Cave) – Sunday Morning

(1998) John Martyn – Sunshine's Better (Talvin Singh Remix)

(1978) Light River Band – Light of Day

(1973) The Isley Brothers – Summer Breeze

(2022) John Carroll Kirby (feat. Laraaji) – Dawn of New Day

(1972) Ronnie McNeir – In Summertime

(2024) Marcos Valle & Leon Ware - Feels So Good

(1978) Leo's Sunshipp – Give Me the Sunshine

(1975) Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Wake up everybody

(1977) Bill Withers & Studio Rio – Lovely Day

(1991) Chris Rea – Looking for the Summer

(2021) Cantoma – To the Sea (Hear & Now Remix)

(1971) Nina Simone – Here comes the sun

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THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE

As I said, when I heard Sault's "Air", it immediately struck a chord and made me think about the 1967 album by the Moody Blues. Even though, volume-wise, The Moody Blues' "Dawn is a Feeling" is slightly too loud, on the rhythmic side of things, the timing is absolutely perfect. Also, both tracks share almost an identical sound (the orchestra), although The Moody Blues' recording has a broader soundstage and is less anchored. But that intention I suspected hapenned, and it made me laugh so much, reinforcing my attachment to Colleen just a tiny little bit more! She's all about the Intention, about the Feeling of the moment, you can easily picture the beach on the left side and people partying, with these huge Statues lurking somewhere in the Background...

The next track nicely prolongs what just happened musically. Keeping the same tonality, Colleen chooses to play Chris Coco's (feat. Nick Cave) "Sunday Morning". The sound quality of the set is off the hook; there's a lot of realism throughout the set, although we know that Mixcloud compresses some of the high frequencies. From this very moment, I couldn't let go of the Idea that every track was like a new beginning, like a flower forever blossoming, a sun forever starting its new journey... And this is precisely what happens with John Martyn's Sunshine's Better (Talvin Singh Remix); it's another excellent example of Colleen's perfect musical choices; she keeps the flow rhythmically and opens up the sonic spectrum, the bass here being more present and the tonality more open to new winds, less restricted if we can put it that way. The marching goes on, and on, and on, as the sun appears in the sky, oh you shy star, where are you heading to today? Will you tell us? The answer will find you; it's all in the music as Light River Band's "Light of Day" slowly starts (hear the sound of the keyboards on the left side, oh so realistic, seems like a Fender Rhodes piano to me, btw)...

There's a rhythmic change here as The Isley Brothers' Summer Breeze starts, indicating another part of the set, it seems... This second part of the set confirms its absolute freedom and its ever-renewing movement with John Carroll Kirby's (feat. Laraaji) "Dawn of New Day" followed by Ronnie McNeir's In Summertime and Marcos Valle & Leon Ware's Feels So Good. Take the time to notice either the perfect rhythm keeping or the small rhythmic changes, enhancing the mix's "forever new starts" feeling! Colleen never loses one beat here, always keeping us on the verge of discovery...

Now, as Leo's Sunshipp's Give Me the Sunshine starts, we're going to do something here... Close your eyes, come on, close them, and let your head go up and down, following the music's groove; a light head-banging to enter the music's realm is something I absolutely adore to do, it brings freedom and a sense of absolute well-being, allowing you to concentrate on the music, its groove and letting your mind plunge into is waves... Try it now, close your eyes and let your head go up and down following the groove... You can also make variations, up, down and then left to right grooving in small motion waves... Who's feeling better now? ^^

There you go. Just as you entered music's realm, Colleen changes the pace, but it's not harsh. Did you notice that you're still banging your head as Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "Wake up, everybody" started? We're in heaven, right? ^^ And we'll stay right there because as Bill Withers (accompanied by Studio Rio) sings, it's a Lovely Day (another song dealing with new starts, btw), a promising summer day... Such a strong message shared here by the incredible Chris Rea with Looking for the Summer, also showcasing what is a "Balearic DJ", one who plays songs with an intention, a meaning, a groove... taking you to places you didn't knew you liked or you needed, and here, right at the end of this very track, happens the absolute Wow Moment of this very mix, with Colleen perfectly mixing Chris Rea with Cantoma's "To the Sea (Hear & Now Remix)" and ending this incredible sunrise set with Nina Simone's cover of the Beatles 1969 Classic "Here comes the sun"...

"One of the Finest sets I've heard from her' (Rick Van Veen)