love it. But it’s just a part of what I do.”
Looking at his recent work though, Transeau has unmistakably found himself gravitating towards the more adventurous side of the trance scene, evidenced by the turbo-charged, bass-fueled remix of ‘Flaming June’ that he released last year.
“I love how the palette of trance is expanding,” he says. “It shocks me that people now listen to one of my old songs like ‘Sunblind’ and they call it trance music. It’s under 128bpm, and it’s this big rolling, evocative, ten-minute long slice of feeling. There’s no big drop in it, there’s no big supersaw toplines, there’s no big arpeggios. There’s just a really beautiful melody and this rolling euphoric feeling. That’s the main thing that’s stuck with me.”
It’s an approach to trance that you’ll find on display on his new album ‘A Song Across Wires’, which will be released through the Armada, the powerhouse trance label founded by Armin van Buuren, in August. Transeau’s edgy trance stylings are on display from beginning to end. “It’s really about exploring what’s possible with the format,” he says.
‘Tomahawk’, for instance, one of the album’s leading anthems and a collaboration with Canadian producer Adam K, sees the pair mashing the classic conventions of trance with some distinctly modern aesthetics. Beginning with a familiar, seductively sweet melodic buildup, it gives way to a thundering, seizure-driven drop that channels the feverish noise of dubstep.
‘A Song Across Wires’ is also defined by the collaborations; the album sees Transeau continuing his long-standing love of working with the next generation of musical talent. Nearly every track is a coproduction, and in addition to Adam K there’s a sterling list of
producers that includes Russian prodigy Arty, Californian trance stars Tritonal and Armada label mate Tydi. Transeau himself returns to contribute vocals to several of the songs, though he’s also joined by seasoned professionals like JES, Christian Burns, Emma Hewitt and Nadia Ali.
“It just kind to came together like that,” he says. “Over the period of making this album, I was being exposed to such incredible new music. I’d be writing a song, and then I’d meet up with friends and we’d kind of finish it off together. Some really awesome people have participated.”
Above everything else, ‘A Song Across Wires’ stands apart from his previous albums because of how it’s built from the ground up for maximum dancefloor impact. Transeau says it’s actually the kind of exact kind of album that his fans have been begging him to make for years. “Something that is really exciting is that for the first time, it’s like the expectations of my fans have lined up perfectly with what I’ve authentically wanted to do. It’s the first time I’ve been inspired by what’s happening in dance music to the point where making an album for the clubs is something that made perfect sense to me.”
Much to his delight, he’s already had his approach validated via these same fans reactions on the dancefloor. “The coolest thing is that I’ve already road-tested every single one of these songs, and every single one of them blows up absolutely so hard that it’s crazy. I’ve never done that with any other album before. We’re one spot away from having four number one Beatport tracks on this album already. It’s unprecedented,” he says with a grin. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
020
djmag.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104