Richard Durand

Air We Breathe Richard Durand

This album is a release whose essence is bound in the oneness of the hypnotic, marching and indeed flatout entrancing character of trance. 'The Air We Breathe' is as much an exhalation as inhalation for the Dutchman, and one with the unmistakable subtext of one musical era passing and the beginning of another.

The album overtures with 'Insolidus', which Richard co-produced with Geert Huinink. Through Durand's remixing of Huinink's (the legendary co-writer of Tiësto's opening three albums) 'The Sacred Vine', Geert makes a second appearance but a few tracks later. Vocal number 'Kill The Fear' (sung by Mike Schmid) and the deeper edge of 'Land Of Angels' further assist in 'The Air We Breathe's development.

From there its physics become markedly more gravity defying, and the album gears up to the serious business of floor elevation. 'Skies Above', 'Aida', 'Lotus' and the Sied van Riel-coproduced 'Universal Minds' collectively put it in flight mode. With the midpoint-marking 'Pandora' and the Mark Sherry co-produced 'Cosmic Dawn' comes another pivot point. It assumes a harder, tougher, more angular profile, as (the tellingly titled) 'Savage', 'Toxic', 'Vortex', (alongside Marco V') and the deliciously unsettling 'Boogieman' supply it an onrush of '4AM'- ness. At track 19, the album emerges blinking into the light, with Richard's Beatport chart topping, most recent single (alongside Christina Novelli), 'The Air I Breathe'.