A few years back they were one of the biggest names in progressive trance, but lately things had been all quiet on the western front for American powerhouse production duo Gabriel & Dresden. Not for much longer, though, if Josh Gabriel has anything to do with it.

Having relocated himself and his family to Amsterdam earlier in 2008, Gabriel found it was the perfect motivation for writing his debut solo album Eight. “Moving to Amsterdam with my family this year was such an inspiration that the album happened quite quickly. It’s such an incredible city that just the simple act of taking a walk with my kids during the summer yielded new ideas,” he told Beatportal last week.

Revered for his mastery of advanced production methods (Gabriel is credited with inventing ‘beat-slicing’, which now features as standard in Ableton and Propellerhead ReCycle), the album is said to be chock full of new innovations from Gabriel. “I recently transitioned from Apple’s Logic to working almost exclusively in Ableton Live, which made the process even faster,” Gabriel says. “Because of Live’s efficiency, the album was produced, from start to finish, in about three months – which was definitely a first for me.”

The album’s title comes from the date Josh completed its mastering (August 8th, 2008), and it’s out now through Different Pieces.