Sander Van Dien – Aurora

Sander van der Waal is one half of the mighty First State, who have written and released many commercially successful trance tracks in the past few years. However, van der Waal is taking a break from his partnership with Ralph Barendse and unusually decided to release a solo track here with Aurora.

Aurora is certainly what you would call progressive trance. It has a dirty sound, something similar to what artists such as Sander van Doorn or DJ Preach have became famous for in the past. The track really gets going after a long yet satisfying build up at around 6.13 when the main melody is given a chance to stretch its legs and take us on a journey. Included towards the end of the track are variations on the main melody, whereby on the last few beats of each bar, a special effect (such as distortion to give a muffled or erroneous sound) is implemented to add spice. When first listened to, most people may be inclined to believe there is a fault with their MP3. However, this only adds to the legend that this track is a dirty one.

At over 9 minutes in length, Aurora is a long track, and some people may think that it doesn't quite warrant such a running time. For those people, it is recommended that the Radio Edit will be more to your tastes, as it includes all the uniqueness of the original mix yet condensed into roughly a third of the time.