Protoculture Returns with “Frequent Flyers”
Marula Music presents “Frequent Flyers”, the new single from label founder Protoculture. Beatport pre-orders are live now, and Spotify pre-saves are open ahead of the full release on 3 July. The track lands first as a Beatport exclusive from 19 June before reaching every platform.
The Track
“Frequent Flyers” is progressive trance with psychedelic roots, built around a sampled reading of “High Flight”, the 1941 sonnet by John Gillespie Magee. Magee wrote it at 19, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot killed in a mid-air collision over England four months later. The poem turns flight into an act of transcendence: slipping the surly bonds of earth, reaching out to touch the face of God.
The sample had been with Protoculture for over two decades. He first tried to build a track around it during his psytrance years in Cape Town. That version stalled. The atmosphere was there, the arrangement was not. “Frequent Flyers” is the one that got there.
It sits at the junction of three periods in his output: the psychedelic texture of his early 2000s work, the progressive momentum of his recent Marula Music releases, and the uplifting trance of his Armada Music years. The main melodic phrase resolves across 24 bars rather than the usual 16 or 32, giving the track a quality of always reaching forward, never quite settling.
“This is a sound I’ve been trying to nail for a while,” Protoculture says. “It sits right in between the three styles I’ve spent the last 20 years making. The psytrance and psychedelic stuff, the progressive I’ve been pushing lately, and the more uplifting trance I did on Armada. I think it finally does what I wanted it to do.”
About Protoculture
Protoculture is Nate Raubenheimer, a South African producer, sound designer, and DJ based in Cape Town. His productions have appeared in the sets of Armin van Buuren, Paul Oakenfold, BT, and Bryan Adams. Alongside his own work he designs factory presets for u-he, Xfer Records, UVI, Plugin Alliance, Sonic Academy, and Black Octopus, and is a Certified Bitwig Partner. He founded Marula Music to release music that sits between progressive house warmth and peak-time trance energy.
Release Details
The single arrives in two mixes: the Original Mix at 4:41 and the Extended Mix at 5:58 for DJ use.
- Catalogue: MM013
- Artist: Protoculture
- Track: Frequent Flyers
- Genre: Progressive Trance
- Beatport pre-order: live now
- Beatport exclusive: 19 June 2026
- Spotify pre-save: live now
- General release: 3 July 2026
