Arguably the most accomplished and recognizable
of the largely anonymous trance set, Transeau made a huge
mid.90s impact with releases such as 'Loving You More' and
'Embracing The Sunshine' for Perfecto Records.
As well as being staples of European dancefloors, they also
reached the UK charts. Both songs were segued together in
a 40-minute blockbuster by Sasha to form the centrepiece of
BT's similarly successful debut album, Ima. Afterwards, his
'dream house' style became widely impersonated (but rarely
equalled), to the evident frustration of the artist: 'So many
people were ripping off things I was emotionally attached
to without putting any of their own emotion into them. They
were turning it into a formula and it was never intended to
be like that. It was very emotional, altruistic, heartfelt
music.'
As a consequence he jettisoned an album's worth of material
for a projected follow-up effort, and concentrated on remixing
duties (including Grace's UK Top 20 hit, 'Not Over Yet', and
Tori Amos' 'Blue Skies'). His own solo output suffered as
a result. Laborious sessions for the 25-minute single 'Hand
In Hand', which paired him with 'Loving You More' singer Vincent
Covello, were highly stressful: 'I was going nuts trying to
finish it,' he told Music Week.
In the event he elected to go back to basics for the follow-up
single, 'Flaming June'/'Orbitus Terranium', and his second
album, ESCM. Again, this featured a bizarre array of sounds,
ranging from the mating calls of tree frogs and wild turkeys
to the vocals of Manchester folk singer Jan Johnston and Sufi
vocalist T.*. Culhane. Transeau changed tack for October 1999's
Movement In Still Life, which replaced the pounding trance
with tough breakbeats.
