Ambient Trance is a subgenre of Trance that emerged in the mid-1990s. This genre fuses Trance with Chill-Out related genres such as Ambient, Ambient House, Ambient Dub and Downtempo.
Characteristics[]
Ambient Trance is characterised by slow beats, strings, organic sounds, pads, pianos, guitars, violins, soft FXs and samples, and natural sounds. It stands out for its use of atmospheric soundscapes and fluid, evolving textures, favoring a freer, more experimental exploration rather than following a rigid, formal musical structure.
History[]
With its roots in ambient music, ambient trance emerged in the form of remixes of trance tracks, with iconic songs such as “Saltwater” by The Thrillseekers, as well as ‘Silence’ and “Café del Mar” by Michael Woods. However, ambient trance has also been expressed through original compositions such as “Salt Tank – Sargasso Sea,” “Astralasia – Astral Navigation,” and more recently, “Ferr & Geronimo Snijtsheuvel – Dark Water.” Other examples include artistic albums such as “Pete Namlook & Mixmaster Morris – Dreamfish.” Some works flirt more with Downtempo, such as the albums “Banco De Gaia – Last Train To Lhasa,” “Dream Dolphin – Atmospheric Healing,” and “L.S.G. – Into Deep LP.”
Iconic Trance artists have also produced Ambient Trance tracks, such as “Escape Reality” by Paul Van Dyk, “As Above So Below” by Ferry Chorsten, and “The Chill Out” by Aly & Fifa.
Chill Trance[]
Chill Trance is a subgenre of Ambient Trance that fuses this latter with more Chill-Out influences that emerged shortly after the latter. Unlike its predecessor, Chill Trance is influenced by other genres of music such as Jazz, Hip-Hop, and World Music.
Influence[]
During its development, Ambient Trance will influence other Trance genres, like Balearic Trance/Ibiza Trance, Dream Trance, Progressive Breaks, a fusion of Breakbeat and Ambient Trance, or again Psybient, a fusion of Ambient Trance and Psytrance.