8. Jonas Steur & Jennifer Rene – Still I Wait (Richard Durand's In Search of Sunrise Mix)
Label: Songbird (Black Hole Recordings)
Genre: Trance
Oh my god... This was by far my favourite vocal track of the year. It's probably one of my favourite of all time. I've been listening to it since it was released on the ISOS 9 compilation, and I'm still not sick of it. It's quite literally a perfect track.
Honestly.. I don't even know what to say about it. Every time I listen to it, I'm basically in awe of how incredibly beautiful the song is. Jennifer Rene is really an impressive songwriter and the lyrics in this track are better than what I hear in most commercial pop releases (may not sound like a big deal, but it's rare in trance). Jonas Steur lets the production sit in the back for the first 4 minutes of the song and Rene's beautiful vocals carry the song all the way through the breakdown.
I remember actually being nervous the first time I listened to this song. I was scared that Steur would go into one of those ridiculously cheesy 2 minute trance breakdowns and ruin a song I had already fell in love with... but he didn't. Instead he created a pretty funky lead that takes center stage for about 4 phrases until Rene returns with the vocals to usher in the outro.
I just can't get enough of this track. Every part of it just works so well. It will definitely be in my “crate” for years to come.
--
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/lunatic-asylum
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/summer-rain