AIRGLO Talks Orchestral Influences, New Music and Exploring Genres

We caught up with the multifaceted bass music producer to discuss his latest single, how he incorporates his classical background into drum & bass, and the direction he sees his music taking in the future.

There is an inherent exquisiteness in listening to dance music when it is infused with a classical touch, and it feels especially profound when you plug it into the breakneck realm of drum & bass music. The intentional layer of orchestral and harmonic depth to the genre’s structural intensity creates a sense of emotional and cinematic resonance that can make time feel momentarily suspended. This very sonic alchemy is what Mikael Oganes, also known as AIRGLO, has been expertly executing since his debut in 2019.

By seamlessly fusing his rigorous classical training from Eastern Europe with a defiant and underground edge, AIRGLO has carved out a unique space for himself, crafting tracks that blend immaculate technical precision with melodic ferocity. His expansive back catalog, which traverses through labels like Reid Speed’s Play Me Records, the legendary RAM Records, and its forward-thinking sister imprint Program Records, alongside his own AIRGLO Music imprint, serves as a testament to this evolution. Throughout these releases, he has maintained a remarkably steady narrative by showcasing an unwavering commitment to refining his trademark sound while fearlessly exploring uncharted musical territories.

That vision continues with his latest single, ‘Rise Again,’ a track that perfectly brings together soaring vocals, cinematic ambience, rock-infused textures, and pure unfiltered drum & bass energy into one expansive statement. Following the release, we caught up with AIRGLO to talk about the inspiration behind the single, how his classical background continues to shape his approach to bass music, the intricacies of his production process, and what lies ahead in the next phase of his journey.

TFword: Third single of the year so far, and it’s phenomenal. What was the creative spark behind the track?
AIRGLO: Rise Again has been on my mind for a while. I always wanted to do a sing along track with live instruments – I jammed the chords on the guitar and I had a vocal from a session for like 2-3 years. I still wanted to combine jump up heaviness with a sing along epic vocals and I believe it came out pretty good.

TF: The production has this balance between controlled chaos and precision: heavy drums, textured basslines, and melodic tension all working together. How intentional is that contrast when you’re building a track?
AIRGLO: After years and years of analyzing big tracks, I realized that it’s the balance between the “beauty” – the melodies and chords and the beast – and the heavy aggressive drops is what makes something stick forever. I believe that’s the formula. Incredibly beautiful melodies with heavy, aggressive intense drops for people to dance to.

TF: What was the earliest version of ‘Rise Again’ like, and how much did it evolve from the initial idea to the finished release?
AIRGLO: To be honest, Rise Again is just one of these tunes that just came out in one session – usually the best tunes come out super quick. I don’t know how it happens, but sometimes you have a tune for years and years, and you release it, and nothing happens. And sometimes you just sit in the studio and the tune births itself extremely easily and quickly, and it becomes the biggest tune you have ever done… weird. Time will tell.

TF: Coming from a classical piano background, how does your formal musical education still influence the way you approach drum & bass production today?
AIRGLO: My musical background is honestly playing against me in the drum & bass realm, because in drum & bass, it’s all about the drop. That’s why it’s called DRUM AND BASS. I find sometimes that my deep chordal knowledge, yes, it helps to come up with beautiful melodies and chords for the intro, but at the end of the day, it’s a dance genre, and you want to deliver the most unique drops. I believe that sound design has more importance than chords and melodies in non-liquid drum & bass forms. I know it’s a bit of an unpopular opinion but that’s what I believe.

TF: There’s a very cinematic intensity to your sound design. When you sit down to write music, are you usually inspired by feelings, visuals, environments, or something else entirely?
AIRGLO: That’s funny, you say that. I am a huge film buff and I eventually see myself transitioning into movie scores. I love soundtracks and watching and studying movie composers. When I write, I sometimes do these sessions where I just run a drum loop and go through presets on my synth and basically just jam out for 1-2 hours nonstop and collect as many ideas as I can while recording myself, and then I go back and find the coolest parts and make a tune out of those parts. I call these sessions “Farming,” like farming the ether. This is actually where my piano skills come in handy. I can improvise for days – nonstop – I would say 60-70 percent of my tunes came out from just improvising. “I see you when I see you” was definitely one of them.

TF: The American drum & bass scene has evolved massively over the last few years. As someone helping push that movement forward, what excites you most about where the scene is heading right now?
AIRGLO: I am not going to lie, the scene is thriving, but it feels weird. There are a lot of people acting like they love DnB just because it’s hot and they are stealing the spotlight from people who actually paved the way for the scene to thrive. And overall, the US dnb scene has notoriously been the underdog because the UK scene is so dominant. I believe, as someone who lives in LA and is considered a US artist, I still think the best way to go forward is to find ways to grow beyond the scene. I see myself as an international artist.

TF: Your live sets have developed a reputation for being high-energy and immersive. How different is AIRGLO the performer compared to AIRGLO the studio producer?
AIRGLO: Airglo, the producer, feeds Airglo, the performer. I find myself challenged every gig because I wanna test all the new tunes that I have cooked in the studio, and still keep the energy going and play the tunes that I know will make the dance floor rattle. Also, just recently, I slowly started transitioning from playing other people’s tunes to just going completely 90-100 percent AIRGLO. I do put a couple of my friend’s dubs in here and there – but overall – I am excited to transition to fully 100 percent AIRGLO homegrown organic sets. Took a second, though, it is scary at first. You feel completely exposed and vulnerable to go completely YOU. But I started noticing that people reacted more strongly to my own tunes played by me, and slowly I got more courageous, and now it’s all I do.

TF: Looking ahead, do you see AIRGLO evolving deeper into drum & bass, or are there other genres and sonic directions you’re eager to explore?
AIRGLO: I was thinking of slowly introducing other genres, but I believe AIRGLO will probably stay as a dnb project, and I might do another project as an all-genre thing. Don’t know yet. Last year, me and 12th Planet did a collab with Pav4n called FAFO. We started it as a dubstep tune and it felt so boring. Right before quitting on the tune, I was like, “Hey, let me bring the tempo up to 174,” and as soon as I did that, our eyes lit up and we were like, “DUDE, it’s a TUUUUNE!”

Yeah, I definitely feel the most excitement making dnb than any genre, but it might change.

TF: Finally, your story so far feels driven by relentless ambition and self-reflection. What does success actually mean to you at this point in your journey?
AIRGLO: I don’t think of myself as a success yet. I struggle mentally with comparing myself to other artists, and it’s been a process to stop doing that. I think I haven’t even started peaking yet, it feels like I am just now slowly starting to emerge on the scene. As an artist, usually people have managers and agents helping them, but it’s all me for my music. I make my own artwork; I release my own music. I get “not something we’re looking for” from labels all the time, and it feels like it’s something that I am going to be doing on my own until one tune goes stratospheric and maybe something will change. But I got a lot of incredible releases coming up and I do get the respect from the entire scene! Which feels absolutely incredible. I cherish that a lot and it makes me go on and thrive and push harder every passing year.

TF: What’s planned for AIRGLO in the coming few months?
AIRGLO: Oh my god, so much, so much haha – I got releases all the way till the end of the year

The next one coming out on the 14th of May is “Be Myself” on Macky Gee’s label, Down2EarthMusik. Then collab with Reaper on Bassrush, then New Zealand release, then Teddy Killerz collab, then Sudley Collab, then Wolfy Lights collab. Lots and lots of bootlegs that I’m planning to release on SoundCloud as a free giveaway. Yeah, I am going to keep on dropping tunes until something blows up, and when it does, I’ll keep dropping twice as much 😉

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