Above & Beyond - Tri-State (Original TC Review)

Anjunabeats: Cat. # ANJCD-004 

Released March 6, 2006 

 Track List:
1. Tri-State (4:09) 

2. Stealing Time (7:11) 

3. World On Fire (4:44) 

4. Air For Life (7:27) (with Andy Moor) 

5. Can’t Sleep (7:23) 

6. Hope (4:28) 

7. Liquid Love (6:42) 

8. In The Past (2:28) 

9. Alone Tonight (6:23) 

10. Good For Me (5:42) 

11. For All I Care (5:50) 

12. Indonesia (5:01) 

13. Home (7:12) 

(2010 Update: I have a confession to make. Around the time I wrote this, I was going through something of a heavy weed phase. I think this may explain why this review rambles so much, even more so than many other previous ones. Not that I actually wrote this while stoned - I can't write worth shit in such a headspace. I did listen to this stoned, however, probably making it sound much better than it really was. Er, I dunno anymore, as I lost my copy of this album and haven't heard it since. Maybe it has held up after all.) 

IN BRIEF: Some very familiar sounds here. 

This can be a thankless task, reviewing a highly anticipated release such as Above & Beyond’s Tri-State. With a few years under their belt under various guises (including Oceanlab and Tranquility Base), Jonathan Grant, Paavo Siljamäki, and Tony McGuinness, have managed to build up quite the expectation for a full-length. Also, due to their light-weight, super-polished anthems, they’ve managed to polarize a great number of trance fans in the process: either you enjoy their easily accessible attributes, or you despise it. I’ve hardly seen any middle ground on prominent web-forums when it comes to Above & Beyond. 

So, you can see my problem. Whichever way my opinion of this release goes, it will undoubtedly draw the ire of either camp: give it a good review, and get condemned by the old trance scensters for liking ‘cheese’ (what, my Drexciya review means nothing?); or, give it a poor review, and get condemned by fans of being a jaded elitist who bashes popular music just for the sake of it (what, my 2 Unlimited reviews mean nothing?); or, take the political route -be completely, drily objective, and be attacked by both camps for not swinging more in favor of their opinions. In the end, I suppose it’s best to do what I always do: dive into Tri-State from my own perspective, and judge it according to my musical background, other opinions be damned. 

The good news is I barely have any prior Above & Beyond background, so I’m heading into Tri-State with very little pre-conceived expectations cobbled together from former hits. The bad news is where my Above & Beyond experience mainly lies: the remix of Satellite. I know this track has its fans but I’m not one of them. I felt it was a tired, cliché-ridden exercise in generic epic vocal trance. All the expert production on it couldn’t hide the fact there just wasn’t much substance behind all the shiny, stuttery synths. I remained disinterested in their output and all the debates raging around how the group was inspiring/destroying trance.

Which is a good thing! If the pre-release buzz is to be believed, Tri-State is a departure from their club trance fodder of yore. Instead, Above & Beyond are interested in crafting an album meant for home listening. So, without me going into this expecting nothing more than Satellite clones (which I’m sure a number of their old fans are), I get to do this review without previous artist bias. No blame. 

Starting out, the title track opener is a pleasant little ambient intro making use of piano melodies, synthy melodies, and gentle pad work. Every element works nicely with each other, creating a warm atmosphere. As I listen to this, I can’t help but be reminded of Faithless during their very laid-back moments. Though this song is a little simpler than Faithless, it is still a good way to kick off Tri-State. 

With a silky smooth transition, Stealing Time gives us our first beats of the album. Nothing highly energetic, mind you, as Above & Beyond opts to keep things nicely cruising along. As the song moves with simple spacey loops, backing strings, and understated hooks, Stealing Time has a very old school feel to it (as in, ‘96 era Sasha & Digweed school)... well, aside from those vocals but just ignore them. Compared to the music playing, they are insubstantial fluff (sorry, Richard). 

The tempo picks up with World On Fire, a simple bit of epic trance making use of grooving rhythms and bleepy leads. Surprisingly, the track seems to understand the concept of ‘less is more’ when it comes to trance. In this age where everything shoots for the biggest, brightest, boldest sounds, those on display in World On Fire are more restrained, kind of how the epic format sounded during its humble beginnings nearly ten years ago. Think Sash!, only less goofy and with smarter production. Hmm... That’s the third song in a row now where I’ve drawn reference to the music sounding like something else, a reviewing technique I tend to frown upon doing here at TranceCritic. 

Perhaps I’d better pause this review for a moment to explain myself. I can assure you this ‘other artist referencing’ is going to happen a few more times before I’m done with Tri-State. This isn’t meant to be a dig on Above & Beyond’s creativity, or some lame-brained attempt at claiming they ripped off other artists; the group does manage to put their own spin on these songs. However, as I listened to Tri-State, my first thoughts on many songs often consisted of, “This sounds like so-and-so,” and those mental notes have stuck. Such comparisons aren’t a bad thing though, especially considering some of the names that popped up. With that out of the way, let’s get back to the review. 

The next track is Air For Life, and it sounds like something Andy Moor might produce. Haha, just kidding. I know he had a hand in this. Actually, I’ve listened to this once before but it was among so many generic trancers it never stuck out, so I don’t remember how it went. Listening to it here, Air For Life is one half nice, and one half meh. First, the niceness: the peaks of this track contain some wonderful airy voices floating about (Carrie Skipper’s, for the record), forming a gripping melody which is impossible to resist. When the main melody is in play, this is a great song. As for the meh-ness, the rest of the track is carried by a bassline that is conceptually one step removed from speed garage. The low, chunky sawwave attributes of it initially sound cool but it doesn’t spark any kind of rhythmic momentum by relying on straight-ahead stabs. If it’s trying to be funky, it certainly failed in that regard and the sweeping voice pad work alongside the bassline isn’t enough to distract from its inadequacies. Great sounding strings on this track, though. 

Can’t Sleep features vocals by Ashley Tomberlin which fail to engage after the first verse. They just aren’t as interesting as the music playing in the background, which is stunning considering the music on this track is incredibly sparse. Structurally, the song is epic trance but about as subtle an epic trancer as I’ve ever heard. It’s like Jonathan, Paavo, and Tony had a discussion, decided the epic trance sound had grown too overblown, and went to work on creating minimal epic trance. The backing sawwave pads are subdued, the main lead is nothing more than a few single echoing notes (sounding a bit like some of Oliver Lieb’s old L.S.G. works, I might add), and the typical build-ups are gentle rather than forceful. Musically, it’s far more interesting than whatever Ms. Tomberlin’s going on about (something about love-induced insomnia would be my first guess) and, much like the lyrics in Stealing Time, I always find myself tuning Ashely out. 

We get a blissy bit of Ibizan trance with follow-up Hope. Piano melodies (don’t worry, no Robert Miles comparisons here), lush voice pads, pleasant strings, and tribal chants create an euphonious, organic track. It’s only four and a half minutes long though, and has the unfortunate feeling of being merely transitional. 

With Liquid Love, Tri-State begins to take on a very grand feeling to it. Musically, this track is pretty much a generic, mellow epic trancer that doesn’t differentiate itself from much of the pack; however, the production quality on the sounds displayed here is stunning. Above & Beyond have already impressed me with some great sounding string arrangements but the resonance on the ones in this track, coupled with some nifty distortion techniques, makes Liquid Love sound far more grand than it really has any business being. Oh, yeah, there’s some vocals from Robert Bedford in this one as well, but they don’t add much either. 

Picking up on the scope crafted by Liquid Love, In The Past continues the theme of grand strings, voice pads, and pianos. While nothing more than an ambient interlude, this Vangelis-like track nonetheless sets up the anticipation for the next song admirably. And, hey, it’s Satellite that’s next! Haha, no, just kidding again. This one is Alone Tonight, which may as well be the big brother of Satellite since not only is it structurally and audibly identical to Satellite, it also features male vocals instead of female ones (Bedford’s again, though this time actually quite inspired). The production’s a bit more mature too, but that’s to be expected. 

Since Alone Tonight is so high-profile, I suppose you want my personal opinion on its merit as well. Very well. Um, I kind of like it. Hey, I’m just as surprised as you, considering I didn’t like Satellite, but this track has one factor that saves it: context. The music leading to Alone Tonight has generally felt quite subdued, yet thematic, as if it’s building up to something big. Thanks to such expert track arrangement, Alone Tonight comes off as that long-awaited climax we’ve been anticipating while the album plays, and it sounds quite good as a result. Mark my words, though, if I’d heard this in a common trance set, you’d undoubtedly see me rolling my eyes, sarcastically muttering, “Well, that’s new”; this is still a very, very typical epic trancer that we’ve been hearing since the turn of the century. 

Opening with Eno-esque pad work, Good For Me features vocals by Zoë Johnston surrounded by ambient textures. For some reason, I can’t help but picture this being sung in the middle of some Middle-Earth flower-field with butterflies and birds fluttering around Ms. Johnston singing in a big, flowing white gown. It’s a very picturesque bit of ambience, bordering on New Age (kind of like Enya at her more ethereal moments) and follows the thematic nature the last few tracks have managed to craft nicely. With that in mind, Good For Me would be a perfect capper on Tri-State. ...Only they decide to keep going. 

For All I Care starts promising, keeping the Eno pads, adding a catchy bassline (probably the best on this album), and throwing in a new wrinkle with guitar work. However, this track soon turns into a bit of meandering light-weight indie rock. Yes, you read that right. Indie rock, as in the kind of stuff tearing up the charts in the form of new wave bands as of late. It isn’t all that bad, to be honest, but it isn’t all together a standout either. It’s just kind of... there. And, it brings the thematic flow of Tri-State to a sudden halt, which is a shame considering how good it was doing before. 

There’s two more tracks at the end, but neither are able to lift this album back up. Instrumental Indonesia has great sounding pad work but is stilted by weak rhythms that won’t have Hybrid quivering in their shoes anytime soon. And the effeminate Home would make for a decent closer in a romantic movie, but is lacking the emotional punch as the closer for Tri-State, especially when you consider some of the highs this album has been at. In all, we end on a very limp note. 

I guess the final verdict on Tri-State is ‘decent’. There are some highs, there are some lows, and a lot of right-down-the-middle. Despite the standout production quality to be had, many of the songs don’t shoot far musically. This isn’t always a bad thing, of course, as an understated album can be quite the pleasant listen when you throw it on. However, when there’s a fair bit of this type of material available (as all that artist referencing can attest to), you tend to need to come up with something more innovative to stand out from the pack. Above & Beyond’s expert use of strings and pads are a definite plus, but slick production isn’t going to work all the time when the main elements, especially vocals, aren’t nearly as engaging as the background elements. 

I’d say if you are still new to this whole trance thing, you will get a great deal of enjoyment out of Tri-State. There’s enough here to give you a tantalizing appetizer before the main course is offered by some of those other names I mentioned. 

Score: 6/10 

ACE TRACKS: 

World On Fire 

In The Past 

Alone Tonight 

Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2006 for TranceCritic.com. © All rights reserved.