British DJ/producer Gareth Emery is used to breaking boundaries. He was voted #9 in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs 2009 poll—one of only a handful of DJs to crack the world’s top ten before the age of 30 – and spent more time at the top of last year’s Beatport trance chart than any other artist. He spent the first six months of this year touring 30 different countries and playing to over a million fans as well to a sold-out capacity crowd at New York’s Electric Zoo Festival. And now, the global dance music superstar is releasing his highly anticipated debut artist album, Northern Lights on Napith Music, along with a full tour to give all a taste of its completely brand new tracks, a seamless mix through the worlds of house, trance, techno, and electro.
Gareth has never been one to play by the rules. He launched his Garuda club night in 2009 during the harsh recession, despite being advised against it. He went on to sell out every Garuda party that year. He has released almost all his singles on his own Garuda label, eschewing the lure of corporate major labels. In 2006, he turned down numerous major radio station offers to instead experiment with a virtually unknown format known as podcasting. Four years and 100+ episodes later, The Gareth Emery Podcast is now one of the most popular and influential dance music downloads in the world, with nominations for Best Podcast at the Miami Winter Music Conference IDMA awards three years running.
Gareth Emery’s debut artist album Northern Lights is a bright labyrinth of exotic and dynamic tracks and between soaring lazer-splicing synths he innovates his own unique style of progressive melodies and soothing vocals. His records, composed, produced and engineered entirely by him, are supported by the likes of Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold and Judge Jules. Gareth’s club anthems like Exposure and Metropolis and remixes for Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond and Darude, have made Northern Lights one of the most anticipated dance music albums of the year.
While the album comes complete with instant dance floor tracks like Sanctuary, Gareth constantly changes momentum; executing his classical piano education with vitality and fresh euphoric energy on Too Dark Tonight and Fight The Sunrise. Through Stars and Citadel, Gareth employs an endless array of synthetic elements and irresistible grooves, managing to inject not only home ambiance but also arena filling presence. Gareth makes use of every anthemic opportunity and the first single from the album, Sanctuary featuring Lucy Saunders, has become the undisputed vocal trance anthem of the summer, proving his strong creative ability to weave organic live vocals elements with flashes of hands in the air memories. Contrasting to absorbing pads and arps, also expect remarkable digital bass lines as the centerpiece, surrounded by washes of synth swells and penetrating techno drums.
The rest of the album contains a wealth of sublime vocal and instrumental cuts that defy genre, taking the listener seamlessly through the worlds of house, trance, techno and electro, demonstrating Gareth’s uniquely diverse style which makes him one of the most successful touring DJs in the world. “The nice thing now is that most people who come and see me play know that it’s going to be quite varied, so they don’t come expecting a straight up set of one style only. I love meeting fans of mine who don’t really consider themselves trance fans,” Gareth says. “There’s a lot different styles on the album, but I don’t think this will surprise anyone who knows a bit about me.” Get ready to meet Gareth!
