Arriving May 2021 on Above & Beyond’s iconic Anjunabeats imprint, ‘Impulse’ is ilan Bluestone’s most personal outing to date.
At the forefront of progressive and trance for almost a decade, Ilan creates high energy trance with heart and soul. From barnstorming festival favourites ’43’, ‘Spheres’ and ‘Let Me Know’, to modern updates of genre classics like System F’s ‘Out Of The Blue’, Armin van Buuren’s ‘In And Out Of Love’ and OceanLab’s ‘On A Good Day’ and ‘Satellite’, his emotional, song-drive approach to dance music has earned him eleven genre chart #1’s on Beatport and a legion of fans around the world.
His debut artist album, 2018’s ’Scars’, emphatically showcased the Bluestone sound. Broadening his repertoire with elements of dubstep, chillout and funk, ‘Scars’ cemented Ilan’s place as a headline Anjunabeats artist, with DJ support from Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and Oliver Heldens. The album has hit over 30 million streams. His tireless work ethic has been rewarded with the opportunity to perform at marquee festivals and venues: Electric Daisy Carnival, Creamfields, Tomorrowland, The Hollywood Palladium, Brooklyn Mirage, Madison Square Garden. Tracks from ‘Impulse’ were tested at Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy 350 show in Prague, 2019, and streamed to hundreds of thousands of fans around the world.
Songwriting takes centre stage on ‘Impulse’ - love found and lost, attachment and disengagement. A cast of familiar players has joined ilan for his second artist album.
Giuseppe de Luca returns to the fold with five vocal contributions. The natural peak-time successor to hits like ‘Bigger Than Love’ and ‘Frozen Ground’, ‘Look At Me Now’ is a guitar-driven anthem about loss. ‘Hopeless Dreamer’ provides a dash of 80s synth wave, while album closer ‘Love Is A Drug’ - the album’s buoyant, final crescendo - discusses ideas of rebirth and rejuvenation. “Great track, turn the snare up”, was the feedback provided by founding member of New Order, Joy Division and Monaco, Peter Hook, who Ilan and Giuseppe cover on ‘What Do You Want From Me?’.
EL Waves returned to the studio to follow up the pair’s 2018 hits ‘Will We Remain?’ and ‘Mama Africa’. Their latest, entitled ‘Tonight’, is a trademark, uplifting Bluestone anthem. ‘Stranger To Your Love’ and ‘Love Not Lust’ - both about Ilan’s relationships - feature Ellen Smith of Shadowlarks, who contributed ‘Rival’ to Ilan’s debut LP.
‘Impulse’ welcomes new collaborators into the fold as well. ‘Stay’ introduces Laura Zay. It’s Ilan’s first drum and bass track inspired by the music of his youth. The haunting voice of Gabriel & Dresden’s ‘Dangerous Power’ and ‘Underwater’ and Pryda ‘Niton (The Reason)’, Jan Burton provides two cuts: ‘Rule The World’ and ‘Underneath Moonlit Canopy’. Gid Sidgwick, another fellow Brit, sings on ‘Paid For Love’, which explores the emotional costs of falling in love.
Completing the album are two tracks with Ilan’s best friend and long-time production partner Maor Levi. ‘Three Kings’, alongside OTIOT is a vicious club instrumental and featured heavily in Ilan’s club shows before lockdown. Finally, ‘Hold On’ pairs Ilan and Maor with double platinum-selling singer-songwriter Alex Clare, whose 2011 hit ’Too Close’ was a top 40 record in both the U.K. and the US.
‘I’m fortunate to have worked with some incredibly talented musicians on the album. A lot of them have shared similar experiences to me and we wanted to tell those tender stories here, but in an uplifting way. The idea of those raw impulses in the songs struck a chord with me. There was something immediately right about the flow and concept of the album, and hopefully, a lot of those sentiments chime with my fans’.
ilan Bluestone’s ‘Impulse’ arrives on Anjunabeats on May 9, 2021. Gatefold vinyl and downloads are available to pre-order now through the Anjuna Music Store and iTunes.
‘Impulse’ is available alongside Ilan’s debut LP, ‘Scars’, as a vinyl bundle for a limited time only.
