Modena Vinyl & CDs

Review: Nevertheless is the ninth studio album by the British electronic music producer and DJ Chicane (real name Nick Bracegirdle), active since the early 1990s as a prominent pusher of trance. Bolstered by a dazzling live album mix performed at the top of Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower, Chicane's usual mode of melodic and atmospheric trance shines through as ever on this project, which also charts collaborations with Paul Aiden, The Mannequin, C-Systems and Hanna Finsen.

Review: Complementing the main LP release of this career-bookending Chicane release comes the CD edition of the new symphonic edition of Far From The Maddening Crowds. The original trance uplifter LP blew us all away at its initial '90s moment, proving producer Nicholas Bracegirdle's fine talents to the world. Now, however, comes the full orchestral version, sating our tireless retroactive desire for symphonies after trance; every track on the original album hears a full-blown symphonic orchestral rerub, utilising the collective talents of members of the The Halle and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and combining them with glistening SFX and studio embellishments to lend an epic neoclassical vibe to an all-out classic.

Review: Of course everyone knows Chicane for the epochal chart trance hits 'Offshore', 'Don't Give Up' and 'Saltwater', but the prolific producer has a catalogue which travels well past those hits of yesteryear. Given his last studio album topped dance charts globally, it's a fine time to catch up on some of the incredible music he's crafted in the more recent phase of his career. Spread across two CDs, extended mixes of instrumental club tracks like 'Hiding All The Stars' and 'Going Deep' sit alongside the vocal talents of Christian Burns on 'One Thousand Suns' and Senadee on 'No More I Sleep'.