Electronic music lovers receive another advance transmission from ‘Guiding Light’ – the hotly anticipated tenth artist album from Paul van Dyk.
The genre pioneer has connected with Kinetica (Dee Henry) for ‘First Contact’ – their fittingly titled debut. Since Kinetica’s 2015 sign-in (remixing Tiesto & Benno de Goeiji’s ‘Endless Wave’), he’s struck one studio homerun after another. A product of Ireland’s ever-vibrant trance scene, his 2019 ‘Whispers’ demo caught Paul’s attention, which ultimately saw it inked to VANDIT’s Next Generation imprint.
Following PvD’s Feb-released ‘Duality’, ‘First Contact’ moves ‘Guiding Light’s tonal needle another step closer to midnight. A heat-seeking trance missile, it’s one that’s been calibrated for maximum spiritual elevation, with the deepest of feelgood impacts.
Outside of ‘Guiding Light’, the middle of March saw Paul step back into the virtual clubbing space, offering a timely response to clubland’s new reality. Together with fellow Berliner Chris Bekker, he performed the first in a projected series of PC Music Nights. Streamed live through Facebook from the German capital’s (poignantly crowd-less) Anomalie Art Garden venue, the 5hr show drew a 30,000 strong online audience.
With a musical tone kept purposefully positive, Paul and Chris peppered its tracklist with the inspiring likes of ‘Music Rescues Me’ and ‘Lights’, as well as giving a first-time airing of ‘Guiding Light’s title track. Says Paul, “the idea, was to unite people from all over the world, bring them together virtually, find strength in numbers and escape reality through music”.
