Johan Gielen – Souvenir

Even though the gift-exchanging season seems ever so far away now as January steadily progresses, Johan Gielen is still in the mood to play Trance Santa: his latest gift to us is called ‘Souvenir’!

When ait starts, its easy-going sounds hint at a mellow Trancer, ideal for when Spring starts peeking around the corner… But once the bassline kicks in at 01:01, you realize you are dealing with something of a heavy hitter! The build-up here has some synth teases and stabs in the background and a gentle guitar-ish melody line added at 01:29, a teasing hint of the uplifting goodness that is to follow. Two minutes in we are greeted by some delightful Trance plucks that manage to sound fit for a stadium-sized venue without ever going over-the-top: Johan strikes a delicate balance here because even though Trance can be energetic AND emotional, some producers tend to sacrifice the one for the other. Not Johan though: it is remarkable how he deploys such a heavy-hitting bassline in combination with such gentle Trance plucks in such harmonic fashion. He could easily have gone a more Tech Trance-oriented route with Souvenir based on the powerful drive the bassline maintains but instead he opts to keep it lighter. The guitar line returns after the drop for an extra dash of euphoria and though the track’s main part ends with about two minutes to spare, Johan manages to guide us out of Souvenir’s beauty in a subtle manner. Atmosphere is the keyword here as after the arm-raising fun we are still kept delighted, with the knowledge that all good things come to an end, eventually, in this case at 06:26.

With Souvenir, Johan Gielen delivers a mellow anthemic Trancer which will undoubtedly ring an early ‘00s Svenson&Gielen bell among the older Trance fanatics. Indeed, this could very well feature on a Trance Energy 2018 stage and compilation alike! Whether as an opener, peak hour secret weapon or encore track, Souvenir will be bound to get people in a good mood.

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01 Johan Gielen – Souvenir

So yes, the holidays might be over, but with mister Gielen on fire, the festive vibes are kept alive! Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a Souvenir here: hcr.lnk.to/souvenirEc

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31.03.2018 Johan Gielen Trance Classics Worldtour 2.0, Beachclub Vroeger (NL)