Interview with Julian Del Agranda about his album ‘Amor Del Pasado’ / VISIONS OF TRANCE (2026)

Interview with Julian Del Agranda about his album ‘Amor Del Pasado’ [Aerium Audio](2026)

Jan Miedema, better known as Julian Del Agranda, is releasing his debut studio album. For the first time at Aerium Audio, Visions of Trance interviewed the Dutch producer about the history of this project. We invite you to read on.

1. What is the title of your upcoming album and where did the idea for it come from?

First of all, thank you for this interview! My album is titled ‘Amor Del Pasado’, which translates to ‘Love From The Past’. It refers to the love for the classic trance sound that many of us still like so much. The album is heavily inspired by anthemic trance from the ‘97-2004 period.

2. What inspired you to write your debut studio album?

To be honest, I always thought I wouldn’t be able to make an album. I remember someone on Trancefix.nl wrote that I should try. And it slowly got in my head. It got me thinking about what it should be like, if I were to do it. What kind of music should be on it? How can I bring diversity, yet still within that ‘Julian-spectrum’ of trance? For those who are not familiar with my music yet, as a Sven Maes-fan I pursue his famous Airscape / Svenson kind of big sounding classic trance sound. During the album production I sometimes questioned myself: what would Sven do? Would he think this sounds good enough? It’s a bit silly perhaps, but it helps me raise the bar for my productions.

3. What was the path to this album?

When I anonymously posted ‘A New World’ on the Trancefix Forums, I got quite some positive replies. So even though I started this classic attempt as a joke, I thought maybe I’ve got something here. I explored this kind of producing more and more. It led to my singles ‘El Sueño’ and ‘Time Warp’ on Borderline. I also did a little sidestep from the classic sounding trance in a collab with Aerium called ‘Flawless’, a slower Balearic track that featured on ISOS 20. After that, I worked on all the tracks for the album.

Creating the album took around two years. I put a lot of thoughts into the titles of the tracks, what they should sound like and what order they should be in. All before actually producing the music. Inspiration comes in bursts, also depending on the rest of my life. If my work is too busy, or there’s other things in life taking up time and energy, nothing comes out of my hands. Finishing ‘Eclipsia’ took over a year: I had the whole main theme ready, but creating the track around it was difficult for me.

But when getting into a flow, tracks can come out quickly. For example ‘Exploration 2000’ and ‘Rayo Rayo’ were all made in like a week. That last track is dedicated to the old Dutch club-trance sound, as I was, and still am, a big fan of G-Spott. That’s an old alias of Richard Durand. It’s a bit more commercial and happy sounding, but it’s what I really like. I still listen to a lot of commercial dance from those years. So there’s a bit of influence from those type of sounds as well on the album.

4. Do you consider this album the best music of your production career so far?

Definitely. I always thought after a previous release: “Pfff, how will I ever make something this good again? It’s impossible!”. But you gotta try to enjoy the – sometimes slow – process and see what comes next. So far, I always manage to come up with new things. The album production taught me various new things. For example to listen even more closely, to spot small details in mixing and mastering. I believe I’ve come very close to the point where people may dislike the music, but I’m confident the productions themselves sound really great.

5. What do you enjoy most about the process of creating the album?

A lot of time in that process is actually not much fun at all. Producing can be like endless scrolling through samples and trying melodic elements, and then everything you come up with seems bland and uninspired. Those are days you clearly don’t reach that ‘flow’ state. But when puzzle pieces do come together, that’s where something magical happens. You created art out of nothing. With an album, compared to single tracks, you can imagine it’s a lot more puzzle pieces that all have to come together.

6. Can we expect any guest appearances on the upcoming album? Will it be a purely solo effort?

There are a few collaborations. The opening track is made with Leander (Aerium), called ‘The White Isle’. This track is already out, but the album features a special intro version that’s not released yet. Leander is a friend of mine, and creating an intro track together was a given when I started the album production. He’s very good at creating an atmosphere, a vibe, and I think we complement each other well.

Another is ‘Awaken Your Passion’ with Nick (Narel). While he usually creates a slower progressive kind of sound, he really wanted to dive into the classic sound and create something together for my album. We made a more obvious ode to a big classic that most of you will recognize instantly. We’re both big fans of these massive synth sounds so it was a lot of fun to create this one. An ode to the heroes that are responsible for our passion for trance.

There’s also ‘Via Memoriae’, created together with Marnix Mulder, who has become a friend of mine in the last couple of years. He has a great ear for melodies and now that his production skills improve he’s also releasing solo work, like ‘Effosia’ that was supported by Tiësto. He’s also quite known in the trance scene for his old-school trance mixes filled with unknown tracks that nobody knows. Look them up if you haven’t before.

The last guest on the album is a very important one. It’s the vocalist on the album title track ‘Amor Del Pasado’, Jan Johnston. It was a dream for me to make a track with her, having worked with lots of legends in the past. In my fantasy our track is sort of an unofficial follow-up to Svenson & Gielen’s ‘Beachbreeze’.

7. Which song from your debut album is your favorite?

It’s a logical but very difficult question. All tracks got my approval, else they would not be on the album. Creating a track with Jan Johnston was very special. I contacted her team and after sending them a demo of the track she was enthusiastic and agreed to work together. My contribution was input for themes, style and vibe for the vocals. Jan then wrote the lyrics and also took care of all the recording. It was a very pleasant experience and I couldn’t be happier with our track. I mean, for me it’s pretty much an Airscape track from let’s say 2001.

8. Do you feel pressure before releasing your album?

Actually, not at all. Maybe because I try to not have any expectations. I’m very pleased with the end result, and I’m proud that I did almost everything myself, including making the artwork. So I feel like I’ve given it all. It’s all done out of passion and it’s up to others whether they like it or not.

9. Will the album be released physically? Will it be available only digitally?

Besides digital release, there will be a very limited 2x vinyl release with 8 tracks from the album. I’m releasing the album together with Leander, through his independent ‘Aerium Audio’ label. We try to keep the price for both digital and physical release as low as possible, as we believe music should be easily accessible for everyone. As it’s an independent release, we invest in this project ourselves so any support is massively appreciated!

10. Do you have at least one specific dream related to this album?

Selling out the vinyl release would be awesome! And of course I’d love to receive support from a major DJ for one of the tracks. I mean, Tiësto could play ‘Amor Del Pasado’, why not? :-)

To be honest I think it doesn’t help that what I create is a bit different. Twenty years ago, DJs would play all kinds of trance in one set. Nowadays, many sets are focusing on one specific type of modern trance. But who knows? Maybe here are DJs out there who appreciate my efforts and dare to play some of these tracks in their sets.

11. Do you plan to continue creating new music and sticking with what your fans are familiar with, or will there be any surprises?

That’s a good question. Likely I’ll continue with creating music in the styles that are on the album. Now that I’ve come so close to the sound I pursue, it makes sense to explore that more. But I don’t have anything planned out. As for surprises, probably sometimes too. I don’t think solo tracks will suddenly be very different. But with collaborations, I think those are a nice opportunity to dive into different areas of trance.

12. What are your next plans after the album's release?

We have a few remixes of album tracks and perhaps we’ll have some other bonus content too, that will be released later. Then the first plan is to relax and enjoy the release, sit back for a bit and hopefully a few people like the album. Besides the album, I’ve got a few classics on my list that I would love to do an own version of and at some point I’m sure I’ll work on new original tracks as well. I guess I also need to find a nice place in my home where I can display the vinyl cover…

Thanks again for this interview and I hope you and everyone who reads this enjoy the album. And if you do, maybe share it with your trance friends. Your support means everything!