[More Music]

Midland’s solo debut last year, “Play The Game,” was an out-of-nowhere anthem, a big, obvious breakbeat track with gorgeous strings, blissful vocals and a perfectly rendered MDMA-fueled inexhaustibility. It was the sort of accessible track you could imagine soundtracking as many movies or advertisement spots as raves. After a considerable amount of attention and hype, Harry Agius’ second release finally arrives half a year later for obscure London house label More Music, and, well, it sounds like more Midland.

“Bring Joy” is not quite “Play The Game” redux, but it’s close. Balancing on the same precarious assemblage of slippery, skittering breakbeats, “Joy” builds methodically, slowly climbing to nirvana rather than the inhale/exhale swell of of “Game.” Midland releases the pressure through chord stabs that ricochet and fly off like hasty afterthoughts, weaving through a freefall breakdown before everything falls into place again, the type of airtight exactitude one comes to expect from the Leeds producer. “Bring Joy” gets two remixes: Radio Slave pounds the track flat into one of his usual thin and crackly grooves, but the vocal samples — oddly distorted until they sound almost ghoulish — quickly move from distracting to grating and derail the track entirely. UK up-and-comer Youandewan provides a digital bonus remix with his “warehouse dub,” which also stretches the track into twelve minutes of austere functionalism, the remnants of Midland’s percussive emphasis imbuing Youandewan’s effort with a subtle skip.

The B-side “Dead Eyes” lacks the anthemic quality — a nice change from all the breathless beauty — and instead offers up a dignified, mutating tech house groove grounded by Agius’ substantive percussion. Both tracks emphasize the accessibility and friendliness of Midland productions, where the cinematic is just as important as the danceable and where even his most functional moments are built with real, palpable heft. With such a friendly and appealing sound, it’s no wonder Agius has seen so much success in such a short time, but if he keeps making big, sweeping tracks like “Bring Joy” it’s probably not going to slow down anytime soon.