The Producer is the fourteenth album from Spanish composer and music producer, Jorge Granda. All five of the tracks on the album are original electronic compositions that explore a number of music genres and sub-genres including synthwave, soft-rock, and ambient as well as electronic music in general. Sometimes very peaceful and hypnotic, and sometimes driving and upbeat, the album certainly demonstrates what a versatile and compelling artist Jorge is! In addition to composing and producing the album, Jorge played all of the instruments and recorded and mixed the music in his own recording studio in Spain before sending it to John Davis (1960-2023) at Metropolis Studios in London for mastering. The sound quality of the album is outstanding!

In addition to his recordings and production work with other musical artists, Jorge Granda is an award-winning composer of film soundtracks and has produced the music for about 40 Spanish independent films, including feature films, documentaries, and shorter works.

The Producer begins with "City of Text," an atmospheric opener with electric guitar in the lead for much of the piece, backed by a hard-driving beat as well as keyboard textures and colors. On the darker, more mysterious side, it's a fascinating start! There is a great video for this piece on YouTube (see the link). "Clouds" is more ambient, although it still has a strong rhythm that keeps it moving at about the speed of clouds rolling in from the coast (I'm watching that happen as I listen to the track and it's amazing how well they go together!). The layered synth sounds convey a mysterious feeling as well as a sense of anticipation. "A Christmas Gift" is much lighter with strings, bass and percussion taking the lead for much of the piece and other synth instrumentation adding different tonal colors to the mix - very relaxed with its strong but easy-going rhythms. The last two pieces on the album are each more than 9 1/2 minutes - twice as along as the earlier pieces - and are very easy to get lost in (in a very good way!). "Gravity" is more ambient than melodic with a driving beat that keeps me grooving in my chair! Instrumentation on this one includes organ sounds, percussion, bass and various other keyboard/synth sounds. The last couple of minutes slow 'way down, stop the rhythms, and feel more mournful - very effective! The last track is called "3023" and covers a lot of musical territory. It begins with dark ambient sounds that are mysterious yet express a feeling of slow movement. The second section/movement is much lighter with a strong beat behind electric guitars, percussion, backing vocals (no lyrics) and various keyboard sounds. I'd call this part of the piece light-hearted and upbeat. The third section/movement returns to the somber, more mysterious mood with layers of ambient sounds, very gradually fading out at the end.

I have really enjoyed Jorge Granda's albums and music since I started listening to it eleven years ago, but I think The Producer could be my favorite (so far!). It is available as a Digipack and a digital download from Bandcamp, to download or stream from Amazon and Apple Music/iTunes, and from all of the popular streaming music services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer and Tidal. Highly recommended!