That’s My Jam is a weekly feature where one person from the Selective Hearing staff goes to wax poetic about music that is pivotal to their musical tastes. Whether that would be an album, a song, or anything in-between. We all had to start somewhere.
Release Date: June 14, 1999
Track Listing
- Silence (Edit)
- Silence (DJ Tiesto Remix)
- Silence (Airscape Remix)
- Silence (Sanctuary Remix)
- Aria
Review
Delerium is a Canadian musical group who are a side project of Front Line Assembly. Their musical style covers a broad range, including ambient trance, industrial soundscapes, and electronic pop music. Their most famous song is Silence featuring fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan. It is considered one of the greatest trance songs, filling dance floors a decade after its initial release.
The song’s original version is not within the trance genre but is a moody pop tune reminiscent of another song in the same era, Enigma’s Sadness. You may also look to Deep Forest’s Sweet Lullaby as another reference point.
While strange ethnic sounds and new-age world music might not be the most enticing, Silence in its original form is a well-crafted song that maximizes dark overtones to match McLachlan’s lyrics.
The remixes are probably more familiar to listeners, which got way more promotion than the original version. These up-tempo mixes did away with the brooding and gloomy feel and turned Silence into a booming, uplifting vocal trance track.
The Airscape Remix is most likely the one most heard due to its use in the promotional video for the song. It is the most radio-friendly, so it is not surprising that it was chosen.
The DJ Tiesto remix and the Sanctuary remix clock in just over 11 minutes. That might be a little too long for those who don’t have the patience for long trance epics, but there are radio edits of each of the remixes available if you look hard enough.
A break-beat-styled song Aria ends this package with many of the signature Delerium musical elements. It’s a nice way to escape the insanity of the remixes of Silence.
In 2004 a repackaged edition of this single was released that contained the original remixes and a few new ones, with Above & Beyond’s being the key mix. Two years later, a remix by the Filterheadz was released. Normally I find a lot of trance music to not hold up to the test of time. Much like most forms of dance music, there’s a lot of trend hopping and gimmickry that does not age well over time.
Silence is an exception, and it sounds just as great as it did 10+ years ago. This CD I’m reviewing has been out of print for years, but it’s worth the hunt if you can still find a copy. It’s even better if you can get a hold of the vinyl.
