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BOB 2015: MAYA JANE COLES (NOCTURNAL SUNSHINE) (BEST PRODUCER)

Best of British 2015, educated by Point Blank

OTHER NOMINEES
MR G
SPECIAL REQUEST AKA PAUL WOOLFORD
JULIO BASHMORE
FLOATING POINTS

FEEL THE SUNSHINE
Maya Jane Coles, aka Nocturnal Sunshine, has beaten the other nominated heavyweight Brit music-makers to take the Best Producer award this time around...

We assume Maya Jane Coles already knows that she’s won Best Producer as Nocturnal Sunshine when we go to interview her for the cover feature.

But we get a real-time reaction to the news when her face lights up and she says incredulously: “I’ve won it?! Oh, sweet! D'you know what, I saw something about winners but then I thought it was just showing who was playing on the night.”

It’s a humble reaction, considering she’s been recognised as one of our Best Of British before, scooping Best Breakthrough Producer in 2010. She blazed onto the scene with the irresistibly catchy ‘What They Say’ going stratospheric that year. “Yeah, it’s amazing that it’s five years since I won as Maya Jane Coles — so it’s really cool to win again, but under my alias,” she smiles. 

We were so enamoured with the album that she put out under the previously little-used moniker before this year that we named it one of our top ten albums of the year.

The self-titled LP eschewed her more linear, four-to-the-floor tech-house sound to explore her dubbier, bassier side with Burial-esque percussion, shuffly rhythms and plenty a vocal hook. It’s a part of her sonic personality, albeit a less accessible one, that we’d like to see much more of.

Taking to the big stage as Nocturnal Sunshine at our Best Of British party was one of the first few times she’d DJ'd under the bass-loving guise. “I don’t think I’ve ever played Heaven”, she said before the event. “I’ve been there for live stuff, of course.”

With more shows as Nocturnal Sunshine scheduled for next year, here’s hoping Maya continues exploring those bassy avenues via her darker outlet.