In a genre often derided for being predictably formulaic and lacking artistic merit, Gareth Emery is at the forefront of a new wave of trance DJs and producers creating an intelligent, futuristic sound, with a strong progressive house influence.

Gareth has been making waves since around 2002, but really starting gaining prominence in the last couple of years with hits such as Metropolis and Exposure. It’s been quite a wait for his debut LP, Northern Lights, but it’s worth it. The album exhibits the same thought and forward-looking sound that Emery has become known for with his previous productions, but on a larger scale. It’s really quite refreshing to hear a trance album which is that: an album, not just a collection of singles.

Northern Lights is thought-out, paced and ordered, quite unlike most trance artist albums. It begins with fresh, driving progressive house tracks. Things start to move more with Full Tilt, a sort of segue in between the two halves of the album, and it continues to the end with the kind of forward-looking trance Gareth is famous for. In other words, it’s like an Emery DJ set in an album; a continuous build through progressive house and trance, but this time all of his own production.

He hasn’t done many vocal collaborations before now, and the ones on Northern Lights really aren’t too bad. There’s an interesting collaboration with his sister Roxanne Emery on Too Dark Tonight, and the album’s lead single Sanctuary, featuring Lucy Saunders, has already proven to be a hit. But they end up being the weak point of what is otherwise a strong album. I mean, that continuous reverb echo trick is cool once, maybe twice, but in every vocal track on the album? It gets more than a little wearing.

No, the instrumental tracks are where Gareth really shines through. Stars, a collaboration with progressive house talent Jerome Isma-Ae, is an atmospheric opening track that keeps building to a euphoric high. Arrival is a definite highlight of the album, a pulsing and swirling track with a haunting bamboo flute solo courtesy of Brute Force’s Akshay Kalawar. Full Tilt is another highlight, a driving mix of house and trance. Citadel is Emery back on form in the style of last year’s single Exposure, and the album finishes on a high with All Is Now, a collaboration with uplifting trance heavyweight Activa.

Northern Lights is a very strong album, especially considering the quite often-mediocre competition in the scene, but it’s not faultless. However, it shows that, in the right hands, trance can still be an innovative and worthy music genre, and it could well be the best trance album to come out this year.

Northern Lights is out now on Garuda through Central Station Records.