Donegal music producer Modeā is ready to shine at Strabane’s first ever dance festival – Electric Arcade.
Modeā, aka 22-year-old Cristian McDaid from Newtowncunningham, has been blazing a trail in the dance scene in the last two years.
Now, he’s excited to bring his electrifying beats to Strabane’s Electric Arcade on 15th June, headlining alongside Dense and Pika.
“The North West really has been missing an electronic event like this for a long time, so I’m delighted to be playing a part in something new and fresh for the first time in Strabane,” he says.
Modeā promises a special treat for the home crowd, with a selection of unreleased tracks from his upcoming second-half-of-2024 releases.
Starting his musical odyssey early, at just seven years old, Modeā has honed a sound like no other packed with mind-altering techno, trance and euphoric melody.
Modeā
2022 saw the release of Modeā’s ‘Shine’ on Alan Fitzpatrick’s We AreThe Brave, being tipped as one of the most anticipated releases of the year and received a mass of support from Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox, Adam Beyer and Joseph Capriati to name a few. ‘Shine’ also received multiple airplays across Radio 1 by none other than Pete Tong and Sarah Story.
The past year has given Modeā incredible travel and collaboration opportunities. He rounded 2023 off with a release on Dutch label Spinnin’ Records with the single ‘Language’ which received a lot of DJ support and airplay across BBC Radio 1. Before that he worked with Brazilian artist Victor Ruiz on a two track EP which came out on Adam Beyer’s label Drumcode. It reached the Number One spot on Beatport’s overall releases.
More recently, he’s been having fun with his style.
“In the studio I’ve been experimenting a lot, trying to be as different as possible,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve learned more about myself as an artist in the last year than I have in the past 10 years. One thing I’m very conscious of is to not box myself in to any one ‘style’ and it’s been a breath of fresh air not having that added weight and being able to create freely. That being said, I have a tonne of new music that I’m ready to share going in to the second half of 2024 and I’m very excited to road test the tracks I’ve been working on to the Strabane crowd!
“Playing to a home crowd is always an amazing experience. Out of every crowd I’ve played to in different countries, the energy that the Irish crowds are able to bring is something special. Growing up I was raised listening to Electronic Music, I think a lot of Irish people can relate to that and I think that plays a huge role in setting the Irish crowd apart from the rest, it’s engraved in us to love this kind of music.”
Electric Arcade takes place at Canal Basin ( Score Site ) in Strabane on Saturday 15th June.
