For this week’s Flashback Friday, a group whose distinctive signature sound was immediately recognizable in the early years of the trance scene: Transwave.

This French project was formed by Christof Drouillet and Frédéric Holyszewski in 1994 – the two musicians had been introduced by a mutual friend, Greg Bailay, who had produced music himself under the project name Opale (he never released his tracks at the time and didn’t tour, but an EP has recently been released for the first time on Dat Records and another track on another DAT Records compilation). The duo quickly created a project that gained international momentum with a popular EP on Step2House and then a brilliant album on Matsuri, ‘Helium’ (the album, despite being listed as Matsuri’s second CD, was issued prior to label owner Tsuyoshi’s own Prana album).

The Transwave sound varies from track to track while nevertheless sounding distinctive in flavour, with a lean EQ framework (some tracks almost sound like a sheet-metal wall of sound), clearly accentuated rhythmic accents, a carnival-like celebratory yet mysterious harmonic framework, and varied textures.

The title track of their Matsuri album, ‘Helium’, is at a slower bpm than one will generally find today, a wonderful track for the shifting light as dawn approaches, with both an uplifting and awe-inspiring mood, a meandering storyline, and a kick placed right at heart-chakra level.

A glorious musical accomplishment by two dedicated foundational trance musicians!