Maya Jane Coles is a British music producer, audio engineer and DJ, born in London.[3][4] Under her real name, she mostly composes and plays house and techno music, while her alias Nocturnal Sunshine creates darker, more bass-driven productions with a heavy hip-hop and dub influence.[5][6] She was previously part of an electronic dub duo called She Is Danger with Lena Cullen.[3][7]
Biography
Debut
Coles began making music as a teenager, learning to produce music using the Cubase software program when she was 15.[4] She first produced hip-hop and trip hop. A few years later, she released her first two records on Dogmatik Records, in 2008 and 2009, which were more house music-based.
Career
Having already remixed acts such as Massive Attack and Gorillaz with her duo She Is Danger,[8] Coles gained breakthrough exposure in 2010, when she released a four-track EP on Franck Roger's label,[9] Real Tone Records. She was then named by DJ Mag as one of the best newcomers that year,[10] as her track "What They Say", taken from her eponymous EP, was also one of the most playlisted by DJs on Resident Advisor.[11][12]
In 2011, she featured in many specialised magazines, such as Mixmag.[13]BBC Radio 1 invited her to record an Essential Mix of her own, which was later nominated for Essential Mix of the Year 2011.[14] Later on that year, she was voted 'Best Newcomer 2011' at the Ibiza DJ Awards 2011 and came ninth place in Resident Advisor's annual DJ ranking.[15]
In 2012, she won 'Best House/Garage/Deep House' track at the Miami Winter Music Conference 2012,[16] 'Staff Pick: Artist of the year 2011' at the Beatport Awards,[17]DJ Mag's 'Producer of the Year 2011',[18] Mixmag's 'Best Breakthrough DJ 2011',[19] FACT's 'Female Artist 2011',[20] and Symphonic Distribution's 'Artist of the Year 2012'[21]
Later in the year, Coles was invited to record a mix for the DJ Kicks collection. The volume she produced was released in April,[22] and obtained a favourable reception from specialised media.[23][24] In November, Rolling Stone placed Coles at number 15 on its list of the world's 25 most influential DJs.[25]
Maya was later invited back to record a second BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix in 2013.[26]
In 2017, Coles released her second album, Take Flight, on her own label, I/AM/ME. The 24-track album peaked at number 37 in the overall UK albums chart during the week of release, number 26 in the Independent label chart[29] and number 15 in the Billboard Dance and Electronic Album Sales Chart.[30] The album received immense support, receiving a 72% score on Metacritic,[31] gaining coverage from a number of high tier publications including Mixmag,[32][33][34][35]Pitchfork and Billboard,[36] as well as receiving DSP support such as a banner on the iTunes Electronic page, a spot in Spotify New Releases, Apple Music New Releases and was named Beatport Artist of the Week.[37] Maya gained 2 'Essential New Tunes' from Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 for two of her singles from the album, "Cherry Bomb" and "Trails"[38] and to top of her year, she won Best Album and Best Producer at the DJ Mag Best of British Awards 2017 off the back of her Take Flight album.[39]
2017 also saw Maya gain a number of selected mix placements such as her Essential Mix, which was shortlisted for Essential Mix of the Year,[40] Annie Mac's Mini Mix,[41] Channel 4 Best Before,[42] Beats1 Mix[43] as well as Radio 1 Live in Ibiza.[44] Going into 2018 she also secured a British Airways exclusive mix with her full album also added in flight.[45]
In May 2020, the title track of Coles' 2010 EP What They Say was sampled in the Lady Gaga song "Sour Candy", a collaborative track with Blackpink from her album Chromatica.[46]
In 2021, she co-produced one of the songs, "Loving You" on Sting's album, The Bridge.
^ abRyce, Andrew (17 April 2012). "Maya Jane Coles - DJ-Kicks". Resident Advisor. Coles isn't concerned with exclusivity, nor staying particularly up to date with brand new tracks, and she doesn't need to be—her mixing carries enough personality to make it distinctive without any of that contextual baggage. It's not a particularly flashy or technically thrilling mix, it's just one of the UK's most intriguing young DJs at the peak of her powers, a well-timed snapshot of a burgeoning big name.
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