Narel - Apricity (Artist Album) [Forescape Digital]

[Air_Water]

Tired Mountain Syndrome is really good but I'm in love with Annica.

 

[Dmoore]

Congrats your second release Narel. I'll be enjoying this for a long time, especially Annica.

We've been spoilt with albums this year.

 

[Archon]

I did purchase this on Juno and had a listen - it's a good album, however I was listening to it while working, so that made it difficult to fully enjoy it. Did have some initial favourites but I will need to play it again, hopefully when less distracted.

 

[Narel]

Congrats your second release Narel. I'll be enjoying this for a long time, especially Annica.

We've been spoilt with albums this year.

Thanks : ) You’re the second person to say this though, ‘diary of a synthy kid’ was my second album. My first, ‘losing adequacy’ was on Bonzai. I’ve really come back around to some tracks on that, though some I’d completely re-do now. Funny how these things go in your head

 

[Hensmon]

Annica is indeed lovely. Need more listens form full opinion on album though. The dub techno inspired one I definitely really liked.

Annica (A Song For Matt)

 

[Perpetuous dreamer]

In late to the party, but A Song For Matt is class. Will support the album.

 

[Unjungle]

Never too late for this I still explore new things and enjoy much. Beautiful album!

 

[Narel]

Loving the love for Annica. Matt would be happy with that. I can here him now though if he'd ever heard it; "yeah mate its nice but you could do with boosting the bass frequencies between 48 and 51 Hz by 1.245 db"

 

[Jetflag]

Set up a beatport account for this album, class work nick.

 

[Narel]

Set up a beatport account for this album, class work nick.

Thanks man : )
That’s the best feedback I’ve had

 

[Trance4Ever]

The final track is crazy good!!

Love the soundscapes in those intro like tracks specially the first two tracks but clarity goes to Helion (2nd one captures the pvd crush vibes for me, probably not the intention but love the focus on the main dub/fx elements of crush).

Tired mountain is the closest sounding track to your Cut my dreams hit which is still my number then its Anica but the tempo is ballsy and perfect in Anica, one of the wildest yet beautiful sounding tracks I've ever heard.

The Ravers have left the towers is the proper journey based prog trancer, perfect track for listening on repeat when destroying people online in Tekken 8.

Forgotten with the waters sounds like a peaceful version of Jim colemans - Rain with way better sound design.

Please give us a complete album on tracks like Anica edging towards psy trance melody but also 2008 style melodies too please, Tired mountains / Cut my dreams and Ravers have left the tower also hope to see collab with Aerium, Hoopoe, Paul miller & Luke terry some day.

Also Chris Johnson + Grant trowbridge + Narel trio collab could be magical, I feel like your trying to break free from deep trance at times, would love to see you experimenting with 138/140bpm.

 

[Narel]

The final track is crazy good!!

Love the soundscapes in those intro like tracks specially the first two tracks but clarity goes to Helion (2nd one captures the pvd crush vibes for me, probably not the intention but love the focus on the main dub/fx elements of crush).

Tired mountain is the closest sounding track to your Cut my dreams hit which is still my number then its Anica but the tempo is ballsy and perfect in Anica, one of the wildest yet beautiful sounding tracks I've ever heard.

The Ravers have left the towers is the proper journey based prog trancer, perfect track for listening on repeat when destroying people online in Tekken 8.

Forgotten with the waters sounds like a peaceful version of Jim colemans - Rain with way better sound design.

Please give us a complete album on tracks like Anica edging towards psy trance melody but also 2008 style melodies too please, Tired mountains / Cut my dreams and Ravers have left the tower also hope to see collab with Aerium, Hoopoe, Paul miller & Luke terry some day.

Also Chris Johnson + Grant trowbridge + Narel trio collab could be magical, I feel like your trying to break free from deep trance at times, would love to see you experimenting with 138/140bpm.

Thanks for taking the time to post a review like this. You're fairly close to what went on with this album. Nearly every track was directly influenced by a producer with a particular style, but not all. 'Forgotten with the other waters' was directly influenced by Focus Soundscapes, his YT channel was very unfairly closed by YT recently but most of his work is on Bandcamp, here: Focus Soundscapes
'The ravers have left the tower' was influenced by Bodzin, which won't come as a surprise based on the Moog bass (actually Arturia Mini v3 as my wife won't let me get a Subsequent 37).
'Annica' was influenced by a bunch of new raw trance tracks that I had no idea were being made - stuff that sounds like tunes I first made in the late 90's. There were several key ones but mostly responsible were tracks by Komet99, in particular 'Drfiter; and 'Voyager'. There was another too by a scottish R/D/H trance producer but f'king Spotify has removed it and its gone from my playlist and I have no idea what its called, or the producer.
EDIT - Found it! See here:
So yeah, I like this stuff and there will be more. As for the collabs', Aerium - yeah that would be great and possible. Zach (Hoopoe) and I have discussed it but I don't think it will happen, closest we've got are the remixes for each other. Keep your eye out for his remix of 'Refractor' out soon on Landscapses. Paul Miller and Luke Terry I've never spoken to and I reckon they'd view my stuff as too different. Chris J and Grant T I don't know either, but there could be an option there as I think Tom (Sunda) knows those guys quite well and I've got a tune coming out on Borderline at some point, I'm told ..... we'll see.

 

[Trance4Ever]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review like this. You're fairly close to what went on with this album. Nearly every track was directly influenced by a producer with a particular style, but not all. 'Forgotten with the other waters' was directly influenced by Focus Soundscapes, his YT channel was very unfairly closed by YT recently but most of his work is on Bandcamp, here: Focus Soundscapes
'The ravers have left the tower' was influenced by Bodzin, which won't come as a surprise based on the Moog bass (actually Arturia Mini v3 as my wife won't let me get a Subsequent 37).
'Annica' was influenced by a bunch of new raw trance tracks that I had no idea were being made - stuff that sounds like tunes I first made in the late 90's. There were several key ones but mostly responsible were tracks by Komet99, in particular 'Drfiter; and 'Voyager'. There was another too by a scottish R/D/H trance producer but f'king Spotify has removed it and its gone from my playlist and I have no idea what its called, or the producer.
EDIT - Found it! See here:
So yeah, I like this stuff and there will be more. As for the collabs', Aerium - yeah that would be great and possible. Zach (Hoopoe) and I have discussed it but I don't think it will happen, closest we've got are the remixes for each other. Keep your eye out for his remix of 'Refractor' out soon on Landscapses. Paul Miller and Luke Terry I've never spoken to and I reckon they'd view my stuff as too different. Chris J and Grant T I don't know either, but there could be an option there as I think Tom (Sunda) knows those guys quite well and I've got a tune coming out on Borderline at some point, I'm told ..... we'll see.

Narel original on Borderline??

 

[Narel]

Narel original on Borderline??

Yes. Made at Rob’s (Activa) request for a specific project. Not sure when/if that project will happen. Was signed a fair while ago, but Rob did say it would take a while.

 

[NameLessYet]

Yes. Made at Rob’s (Activa) request for a specific project. Not sure when/if that project will happen. Was signed a fair while ago, but Rob did say it would take a while.

Narel original on Borderline??

It was mentioned here last year. I think we can all know what that "special project" is. Hope it can continue soon.

Forum EP01 - VA [TF Recordings]

The end part of the notes during the break part have that Mac & monday touch but the drop takes it into its own territory of uniqueness. 10/10 for creativity alone, needs to be signed asap if not Solarstone, then Activa might take it?! Defo no bluesoho plz.

www.trancefix.nl

 

[Narel]

It was mentioned here last year. I think we can all know what that "special project" is. Hope it can continue soon.

You are better informed than me. I didn’t know Movements 2 was shelved.

 

[Sean Cong]

Translated and edited from my comments in Chinese (in Sep 10, 2025):

I estimate that this year, probably around 5 to 8 trance albums will be of sufficient quality to truly captivate me—and this album is definitely one of them, one that I hold in high regard.

The album incorporates a fair amount of ambient elements. During my first two or three listens, none of the ambient tracks stood out as particularly appealing to me. However, the more I listened to it, the more I love the 3rd and 4th tracks of the album, which provides a clean and ethereal feeling. I used to compare it with another album this year, Journey Beyond by Mikkel Rev, but I think the ambient of the two albums are beautiful in different ways.

I still didn't get the "Forgotten with the Other Waters", I need to listen more before I could comment on it.

As for the rest of the material—whether it’s progressive, deep, raw, or hypnotic trance, as well as breakbeat—reaches a very solid standard overall, with many moments rising to the level of excellence.

As of now (2025-09-10), my favorite track across the album is "Ephemerides", followed by "Annica", then "Tired Mountain Syndrome", and after that, "The Ravers Have Left the Tower". All things considered, I’d give the album a rating around 7.5 to 8 out of 10, which is a very high mark in my own standards.


More comments (in Oct 1, 2025):

I liked "Tired Mountain Syndrome" very much before the release of the album, but now I could only rank it 3rd, because the structure of the track is a bit loose for me. This does affect my ratings, but it's not a big deal, since binding the two parts together is nowhere near an easy task.

For similar 2-part tracks like "Tensile", I personally only like the first part, which is the first half, plus the outro. (I have planned to play the outro of "Tensile" in my future set.)

As for "Ephemerides", it is of two parts indeed, but the switch between major and minor keys enables us not to get too bored by the same sounds, and the transition is very natural. Moreover, the track is not tense as "Tired Mountain Syndrome" does, so the parts doesn't need to be bonded too tightly.

I was shocked when I first found out there was a 150bpm track in the album. When I listen to it, it is raw and old-school and I like it!

 

[Narel]

Translated and edited from my comments in Chinese (in Sep 10, 2025):

I estimate that this year, probably around 5 to 8 trance albums will be of sufficient quality to truly captivate me—and this album is definitely one of them, one that I hold in high regard.

The album incorporates a fair amount of ambient elements. During my first two or three listens, none of the ambient tracks stood out as particularly appealing to me. However, the more I listened to it, the more I love the 3rd and 4th tracks of the album, which provides a clean and ethereal feeling. I used to compare it with another album this year, Journey Beyond by Mikkel Rev, but I think the ambient of the two albums are beautiful in different ways.

I still didn't get the "Forgotten with the Other Waters", I need to listen more before I could comment on it.

As for the rest of the material—whether it’s progressive, deep, raw, or hypnotic trance, as well as breakbeat—reaches a very solid standard overall, with many moments rising to the level of excellence.

As of now (2025-09-10), my favorite track across the album is "Ephemerides", followed by "Annica", then "Tired Mountain Syndrome", and after that, "The Ravers Have Left the Tower". All things considered, I’d give the album a rating around 7.5 to 8 out of 10, which is a very high mark in my own standards.


More comments (in Oct 1, 2025):

I liked "Tired Mountain Syndrome" very much before the release of the album, but now I could only rank it 3rd, because the structure of the track is a bit loose for me. This does affect my ratings, but it's not a big deal, since binding the two parts together is nowhere near an easy task.

For similar 2-part tracks like "Tensile", I personally only like the first part, which is the first half, plus the outro. (I have planned to play the outro of "Tensile" in my future set.)

As for "Ephemerides", it is of two parts indeed, but the switch between major and minor keys enables us not to get too bored by the same sounds, and the transition is very natural. Moreover, the track is not tense as "Tired Mountain Syndrome" does, so the parts doesn't need to be bonded too tightly.

I was shocked when I first found out there was a 150bpm track in the album. When I listen to it, it is raw and old-school and I like it!

Thank you for taking the time to listen and post this review. I really appreciate it : )
Two part tracks have always been something I’ve admired. Of the three I’ve done, two of which are on this album, all happened not by design, but I agree ‘Ephemerides’ is the most cohesive

 

[Hensmon]

Still loving this one (and Tired Mountain Syndrome)


Would love to see more dub style tracks from youlike this in the future.

 

[facade1984]

The tune is fine but I'm gonna give it 1 out of 5 stars because Narel came to my house and used all the garlic sauce like a lil bitch