i_o marks a first trance turn with a rework of 'Castles In The Sky'

A producer’s back catalogue usually says more about what he won’t do than what he will.

i_o has issued almost nothing but techno since his first single landed in 2017, and ‘Castles In The Sky,’ out now via Armada Music, the trance label he only recently signed to, marks his most overt move into trance yet. It’s a rework, revived to mark that anniversary, of a record that reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the Scottish Singles Chart two decades ago.

Frenetic synths run over a bassline built to hit hard, not settle into a groove. Underneath both, a heavenly vocal carries straight through from the source record, the clearest sign of what i_o chose to keep. The low end and the drums are his; the melody is the one people already know.

Trance wasn’t where anyone watching his catalogue expected him to land. He’s already circled it as a guest, with remix credits for Armin van Buuren’s ‘Mr. Navigator’ and for Above & Beyond’s ‘Alchemy’ on Anjunabeats. ‘Castles In The Sky’ is the first time he’s made the move under his own name.

‘Castles In The Sky’ also follows ‘In My Head,’ his previous release on Armada, so twice into the relationship i_o still hasn’t repeated himself. There’s no companion remix package attached, just the one track, in and out.

What it isn’t is a full pivot. One record doesn’t undo the techno that came before it.