That squared-off trance kick comes in early and just rolls, a bassline knotted underneath it that never quite sits still. Then the floor drops out for a breakdown and the room goes weightless. This is Modeā and Bryan Kearney, Ready to Fly, and that weightless stretch is the best thing here.
When the kick returns it returns bigger, and the lead synth climbs over the top the way uplifting trance has always done best, reaching for the ceiling and mostly getting there. Bryan Kearney carries a harder edge than most of that lane, and you can hear it in a low end that refuses to soften even at the record’s prettiest moment. It is built to peak. It peaks.
It came out via Musical Freedom, which is not where I would have gone looking for a trance record, and that small mismatch is part of the charm. Modeā is the newer name on the split. Bryan Kearney has been working this brighter, harder corner of trance long enough that his fingerprints sit all over the drop.
Trance lives or dies on whether the breakdown makes the payoff feel earned. This one holds its breath long enough that when the kick drops back in, you exhale with it.
Listen on: YouTube · YouTube Music · Tidal
