Maya Jane Coles

Maya Jane Coles is an English music producer, audio engineer and DJ, born in London of British and Japanese descent. 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. She was previously part of an electronic dub duo called She Is Danger with Lena Cullen.
Biography
Debut
Coles began making music as a teenager, learning to produce music using the Cubase software program when she was 15. 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, Coles gained breakthrough exposure in 2010, when she released a four-track EP on Franck Roger's label, Real Tone Records. She was then named by DJ Mag as one of the best newcomers that year, as her track "What They Say", taken from her eponymous EP, was also one of the most playlisted by DJs on Resident Advisor.
In 2011, she featured in many specialised magazines, such as Mixmag. BBC Radio 1 invited her to record an Essential Mix of her own, which was later nominated for Essential Mix of the Year 2011. 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.
In 2012, she won 'Best House/Garage/Deep House' track at the Miami Winter Music Conference 2012, 'Staff Pick: Artist of the year 2011' at the Beatport Awards, DJ Mags 'Producer of the Year 2011', Mixmag's 'Best Breakthrough DJ 2011', FACT's 'Female Artist 2011', and Symphonic Distribution's 'Artist of the Year 2012'
Later in the year, Coles was invited to record a mix for the DJ Kicks collection. The volume she produced was released in April, and obtained a favourable reception from specialised media. In November, Rolling Stone placed Coles at number 15 on its list of the world's 25 most influential DJs.
Maya was later invited back to record a second BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix in 2013.
Coles' début album Comfort was on her own I/AM/ME label and Kobalt Label Services internationally in summer 2013. It featured guest appearances from artists such as Tricky, Miss Kittin, Nadine Shah, Alpines, Thomas Knights and Karin Park.
She also produced Fabric 75 (released April 2014), the 75th edition of London nightclub Fabric's monthly compilation album.
In late 2014, the title track of Coles' 2010 EP What They Say was sampled in the Nicki Minaj song "Truffle Butter", a collaborative track with Drake and Lil Wayne from her album The Pinkprint.
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 and number 15 in the Billboard Dance and Electronic Album Sales Chart. The album received immense support, receiving a 72% score on Metacritic, gaining coverage from a number of high tier publications including Mixmag, Pitchfork and Billboard, 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. 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" 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.
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, Annie Mac's Mini Mix, Channel 4 Best Before, Beats1 Mix as well as Radio 1 Live in Ibiza. Going into 2018 she also secured a British Airways exclusive mix with her full album also added in flight.
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.
In 2021, she co-produced one of the songs, "Loving You" on Sting's album, The Bridge.
Discography
As Maya Jane Coles
Studio albums
2013: Comfort
2017: Take Flight
2021: Night Creature
Compilation albums
Singles and extended plays
Remixes
As Nocturnal Sunshine
Studio albums
2015: Nocturnal Sunshine
01. Intro (Holding On)
02. Believe feat. Chelou
03. It's Alright
04. Take Me There
05. Drive
06. Footsteps
07. Down by the River feat. Catnapp
08. Bass Bin
09. Can't Hide The Way I Feel
10. Intergalactic
11. Skipper
12. Hotel
2019: Full Circle
01. Wildfire feat. Catnapp
02. Gravity feat. Ry X
03. Possessed feat. Peaches
04. Pull Up feat. Gangsta Boo & Young M.A
05. I'm Ready
06. Ridin' Solo feat. Gangsta Boo
07. Lessons of Life
08. Dash feat. CHA$EY JON£S
09. To the Ground
10. Fuck Fame feat. CHA$EY JON£S
11. U&ME
12. Foundation
13. Tied Up
14. Closed Eyes feat. Thomas Knights
15. Something About the Drama feat. Chelou
Originals
Remixes
As She Is Danger
Remixes
Music videos
References
External links
English audio engineers
English record producers
English house musicians
English people of Japanese descent
English women DJs
Electronic dance music DJs
British women record producers
DJs from London
Dubstep musicians
Dubtronica musicians
Living people
English women in electronic music
Deep house musicians
1986 births