Dropout: Cat. # DROP 0346-6
Released 2003

Track List:
A. I Am Free (Club Mix) (6:44)
B. I Am Free (Original Mix) (6:24)


IN BRIEF: Italo lives!

Say what you will about Regean-omics, arena rock, and fashions that could make your hair stand on end even more than the hairspray that abounded in the decade; the 80’s had a lot going for them. One such thing was the music known as italo disco, a wholly European phenomenon that time has been quite generous to.

I’m not sure if Erik Vee intentionally set out to make an italo-esque track with I Am Free (especially considering his first single, Wildside, was as straightforward a hard trancer as it gets) but that’s the feeling I’m getting from this single here.

Why? Simply put, everything that made italo so much fun is abundant. The breathy vocals with a touch of reverb; the simple yet effective floating pads; the catchy, primitive synth hooks; and a bouncy rhythm that will get parts of your body moving even if you are lying inert.

And even though I Am Free does follow the typical trance format of lead, breakdown, build, etc., they don’t come across as tired here, probably thanks to the lack of so many of the clichés plentiful in other tracks (mega snare rolls, gargantuan synths, overtly pretentious presentations). Everything here has a stripped down, back-to-basics feel to it.

Okay, so some might label this vocal trance but, really, vocal trance tends to come across as the offspring of euro house, which in turn was the offspring of italo. It all ties together, guy!

If you came looking at this release for something a little more akin to Wildside, the Club Mix provided on the A side will probably be more up your alley.

This is a simple yet effective piece of trance here. The track starts out with punchier rhythm as heavy bass bobbles in the background and grating effects are thrown in about for the two and a half minutes worth of lead in. The breakdown fades things down and, wisely, this mix gives us a bit of yin to the lead-in’s yang. Instead of the synth pads that were used in the original, however, we are treated to voice pads instead, lending the ambience of I Am Free to a more benign nature. Adding to that ambience is the main hook being played with a rich piano fed through a little reverb rather than primitive synths as well.

Things start moving along again at a fair pace soon enough and extra effects are utilized to play off the piano melody wonderfully. Things play out typically as the song finishes off, with the rhythm dominating the last minute’s worth for all your DJing needs.

I highly recommend this release to either fans of italo or melodic trance. Both versions of I Am Free are highly effective in their simplicity, and, even if you aren’t exactly a fan of one of those styles of EDM, you just might become one after listening to this single.

And as for Erik Vee, count me as a new fan of his material if he continues to produce songs of this caliber. Here’s looking to the future with the past firmly in tow.

Source:

http://www.trancecritic.com/modules...&op=show&rid=19

Written by Sykonee of TranceCritic.com & TranceAddict.com
May not be reproduced/republished without the consent of TranceCritic.com © All Rights Reserved.

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