Kaleidoscope is a particularly apt title for Tiesto’s latest album. It’s the Dutch producer’s stab at splintering his signature trance sound in different directions, including (but by no means limited to) ambient pop, electro, club cheese and straight-forward radio pop. To help him pull off this stylistic shift, Tiesto spread his net pretty damn far, recruiting plenty of unlikely guests from disparate musical genres like Metric’s Emily Haines, US troubadour Cary Brothers and pop mainstays like Sneaky Sound System and Nelly Furtado. Whilst a lot has been made about Tiesto’s strange new friends, fans worried about losing what made Tiesto great in the first place – namely, a formidable ear for hits and a mind for stadium ready trance production – needn’t worry too much, as Tiesto and his cast of guest players do indeed pull the whole thing off.

First out of the gate is the album’s title track, Kaleidoscope, pairing the heavyweight DJ with enigmatic Icelandic wisp Jonsi from Sigur Ros. It’s perhaps the album’s most bizarre pairing, and although a meeting of these two minds really shouldn’t work on paper, somehow it clicks, with Jonsi’s trembling falsetto floating across Tiesto’s brittle arrangement. With its epic, fantasy-evoking atmosphere and marching beats, the track has a huge build up, met naturally with a charging breakdown that grabs onto Jonsi’s voice to lift the track even higher. By the time it’s seven minutes are up, Kaleidoscope not only seems like an ideal introduction the album as a whole, but it at last feels natural. You get the feeling that if Sigur Ros had an affection for lasers they could actually sound like this.

From there, Tiesto gets to work at branching out again, flexing his muscles on Escape Me ft. CC Sheffield, a driving electro jam that only benefits from Tiesto’s arena-sized touch. Likewise on tracks like Century ft. Calvin Harris and Knock You Out ft. Emily Haines, Tiesto crafts some very accessible electro tunes that could seemingly fit on the playlists of longtime Tiesto fans and scene newbies. Hell, even I Will Be Here with Sneaky Sound System seems to work, strutting out with crossover potential.

Elsewhere, something like Feel It In My Bones ft. Tegan & Sara shows Tiesto’s vision becoming even more kaleidoscopic, to borrow a term, mixing a (relatively) down-tempo drum track with shimmering synths and some serious guitar parts. It’s part indie, part mild-banger and part electro gem whilst still retaining Tiesto’s stamp.

Having said that though, it’s clear that a lot of Tiesto’s attempts to break away from convention don’t work so well. Take for instance the album centrepiece It’s Not The Things You Say recorded with Bloc Party lead belter Kele Okereke. Awash with tinkling pianos and cybernetic drum clashes, the track just seems stuck in low gear while Okereke wails out some pretty cheddar-y poetry. As admirable a move as spotlighting this classification-defying track is, it doesn’t hide that the song is meandering and just kinda bad. The same can be said for Tiesto’s track with Tilly & The Wall vocalist Kianna, You Are My Diamond, which should win awards for taking a laboured-metaphor to new, excruciating heights.

In the end though, that’s part of the enjoyment of Kaleidoscope. Having truly conquered trance, Tiesto has refused to rest on his laurels, instead pushing forward and trying, really trying, to do something different and unexpected. As such, it really does feel as though you’re listening to Tiesto test himself on this record. A couple of attempts fall painfully flat, but more often that not Tiesto succeeds, and that makes Kaleidoscope both exciting and interesting to hear.

Kaleidoscope Tracklist:

01 Kaleidoscope [ft. Jónsi]
02 Escape Me [ft. CC Sheffield]
03 You Are My Diamond [ft. Kianna]
04 I Will Be Here [ft. Sneaky Sound System]
05 I Am Strong [ft. Priscilla Ahn]
06 Here on Earth [ft. Cary Brothers]
07 Always Near
08 It’s Not the Things You Say [ft. Kele Okereke]
09 Fresh Fruit
10 Century [ft. Calvin Harris]
11 Feel It in My Bones [ft. Tegan and Sara]
12 Who Wants to Be Alone [ft. Nelly Furtado]
13 LA Ride
14 Bend It Like You Don’t Care
15 Knock You Out [ft. Emily Haines]
16 Louder Than Boom
17 Surrounded by Light

Catch Tiesto on his massive tour across the country in January:

Fri Jan 29th – Sydney, Hordern Pavilion (SOLD OUT)
Sat Jan 30th – Sydney, Hordern Pavilion
Sun Jan 31st – Brisbane, Riverstage
Fri Feb 5th – Melbourne, Hisense Arena (SOLD OUT)
Sat Feb 6th – Melbourne, Hisense Arena (SOLD OUT)
Sun Feb 7th – Melbourne, Hisense Arena
Wed Feb 10th – Perth, Metro City
Thu Feb 11th – Perth, Metro City (SOLD OUT)
Fri Feb 12th – Perth, Metro City (SOLD OUT)