Up-Tempo Consciousness
Paul van Dyk's new 'Reflections' envisions a more grown-up kind of trance
Trance is back. After an artistic backlash in 2000, European acts Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Alice DJ, and DJ Sammy helped the up-tempo genre return to the forefront of dance-music sales and popularity polls, even if it remains anathema to critics. The man who singlehandedly pushed the Giorgio Moroder-derived sound to the fore in the late '90s, Berlin's Paul van Dyk, is back with Reflections, his most ambitious album to date. And he's just in time to capitalize on a new micro-generation's fascination with the emotional, symphonic, and synthetic sound.
But this time Van Dyk has a message and a wider range. With breakbeats, a rapper, and even a rock singer on the CD, he wants to free himself from the confines of the hand-raising, glow-stick-waving, havin'-it scene. He still dishes out crisp, polished production, but now he hopes fans will read the lyrics published in the CD booklet. (A first for trance?)
The largely European trance phenomenon often receives poor marks from music writers (even many in the cheerleading dance press dismiss the entire genre outright), and Van Dyk himself has lashed out at the "cheesy" elements of his post-techno scene. Indeed, top act Alice DJ has a lead singer who is a lip-syncing rave diva with cheerleader moves, and DJ Sammy - don't get Van Dyk started on DJ Sammy - has brought trance to pop radio with a "Barbie Girl"-style cover of Bryan Adams's "Heaven."
"I wouldn't say that Sammy has any roots in the club scene, first of all," Van Dyk says of his chart-topping competition. "If you look at Sammy, it's cheesy pop music using electronic elements. It's important to actually create something that's unique. I don't think there's anything creative [in] looking at cheesy hits from the '80s and producing them again. That's just cashing in and doesn't bring electronic music any further."
If anything brings e-music further, it's Reflections' Byrds-esque "Time of Our Lives," a soulful, heartfelt romp through the paradoxes of today ("A time for peace, a time for fighting/A time to live, a time to die"). True to form, the song also relies on the double-edged musicality of driving digital breakbeats and robust rock vocals (by Vega 4's Johnny McDaid).
With a wife, a receding hairline, and a refined, tech-boy-meets-the-tailor wardrobe, Van Dyk is growing up, and he wants his fans to evolve too. On the bittersweet ballad "Like a Friend," the U.K.'s Jan Johnston sings, "Be aware of the world ... have a care, have a conscience."
For too long, the plastic, ecstatic trance scene was about being carefree. Van Dyk tells anyone who will listen about how a gig in Bombay altered his worldview. While riding to the venue in a Mercedes, he saw something he had never seen before - children living in utter poverty. At once, he ceased being a designer DJ - his 1998 hit "Like an Angel" defined the optimistic three-chord trance that swept clubland - and morphed into an artist with heart, soul, and introspection. Clearly, the '90s days of peacenik raves and the million-strong Berlin Love Parade are long gone, and reality has settled over the dance scene like a steady rain washing away the trash of memory.
"I had this instant maturation," Van Dyk says of his India trip. "I'm not approaching it as a preacher, just creating a bit of an awareness. If you want to get a little deeper, my new music is a little more than the hands-in-the-air, sunshine-everywhere sort of nonsense. If you want to change something, you can do it with your own hands. That's a very positive message. We shouldn't underestimate this generation."
Still, despite the message, "Time of Our Lives" is clearly destined for another e-music-flavored car commercial, and the rest of Reflections' mathematical arrangements and trans-Atlantic trips also have a cinematic feel and appeal. ("Connected" was made specifically for a Motorola television commercial featuring Van Dyk, and "Buenaventura" appears on his score for Mexican indie film Zurdo.) In fact, the end of the disc pulls listeners back onto the dance floor for a mix-CD-style romp. Is this the trance of yore?
"You ask 10 people 'What is trance?,' you'll get 10 different answers," Van Dyk says. "I just call it electronic music. This is the music that has huge potential for the future. You can combine elements and genres to create something unique. We're not limited to a guitar, bass, drummer, and vocalist. This is something that is much more."
Published: 10/16/2003
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