This one snuck up on me. Halcyon is trance, proper build-and-release trance, and P3PPER and Jibaan play it mostly straight instead of chasing whatever hybrid trend is current this month. The intro layers glassy arpeggios and a pitched vocal cut into small fragments, pretty without ever turning sickly, and then the breakdown does the old classic thing, stripping back to a lone pad and a rising melody before the whole sky opens up. The lead that carries the drop is a big saw line with just enough detune to give it that bittersweet edge trance has always traded on, euphoria with a lump in its throat. There is a melancholy chord sitting under all the brightness that keeps tugging the mood sideways even as the energy climbs. It moves at that insistent trance gallop, kick and offbeat bass shoving relentlessly forward, short and focused with no wasted bars. Trance barely shows up on this blog anymore and I forget how much I miss the rush of it until something like this lands in front of me. Going straight back for a second run.
We've posted P3PPER, Jibaan before. Check out P3PPER, Jibaan - Again (In My Mind)