Artist: Chakra
Title: Doors
Label: Lost Language
By: Simon Jones | 22 January 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix
• B: Space Brothers Dub

Chakra "Doors"

Ricky Simmonds and Steve Jones have been producing 'emotional trance' for almost a decade now, starting with the track 'Shine' as Space Brothers. Since then, they have gone on to produce 'Everytime' as Lustral, 'Redemption' as Force Majeure and 'Someone' as Ascension. to name but a few. However without a doubt one of their most successful projects back in the late 90's was Chakra, and they now return with the 4th single under that guise, entitled 'Doors'

The 'Original Mix' starts off on a deep tip, with nice synth arrays pulsating away in the background, before Kate Cameron's songstress vocals float over the top of the chord progression bassline, but from there on in it becomes your average uplifting vocal trance track and in comparison to earlier Chakra tracks 'I Am' and 'Home', doesn't really live up to the standard set up those two tracks, which are still held in regard by people to this day. Disappointing to say the least, when I expected so much more of it.

Oddly, the 'Space Brothers Dub' has a more progressive edge to it than the original version, which is the total of what i've always thought about their projects, as i've always seen the 'Space Brothers' as their more commercial project. However the driving bassline of this mix certainly isn't fluffy as distorted vocals drill into some tight synth progression that builds and builds. As we reach the cinematic breakdown, the mood mellows out, but the pace soon reverts to a more emotion charged push for the finale. Dramatic stuff indeed.

Rumour has it that 'I Am' will be re-released later this year, so it will be interesting to see what happens with that. Forthcoming on Lost Language, the bods have comissioned remixes of 'Signet' by 2 Players and 'Solarcoaster' by Solar Stone with the hope of giving them a wider appeal across several genres. We will have to see if they pull this off.