A Produce Land Of A Thousand Trances (Deluxe Reissue)
Release Date: August 4, 2023
Label: Independent Project Records
Deluxe expanded and newly remastered reissue of Land of a Thousand Trances, originally released in 1994, which acted as an ambitious counterpart to the previous A Produce albums.
Similarly to what Eno had done when he defined the context and nature of the newly baptized ambient genre, the late Barry Craig (A Produce) accompanied Land of a Thousand Trances with a press release that outlined the fundamental elements of what he liked to call trance music. “It can be as driving as the sound of world beat rhythms against modern day electronics," he wrote, “or as subtle as the tinkling of Japanese bells mixed with background environmental sounds. Whatever the vehicle, the fundamental requirement of of trance music is that it sets up a rhythm (percussion), a sustained sound (drone), or a repetitive figure that over time, evokes a spellbinding hold on the listener, drawing them deeper into the music, or trance.”
In 2007, A Produce worked on a remaster of the album, adding a second disc featuring bonus material from around the same time the album was recorded. This second chapter in the Land of a Thousand Trances journey is as hypnotic as the first and original one: there are cuts taken from the same recording sessions that didn’t previously make the track list, as well as live renditions and alternate versions. It’s fascinating insight into A Produce’s mindset during a particularly inspired moment in his fascinating career.
The new deluxe remastered edition is housed in a package that proves one of Independent Project Records and Independent Project Press founder Bruce Licher’s most elegant designs. Evocative and seducing, it features some of Craig’s sublime landscape photographs - a perfect accompaniment for the pictorial dreaminess conjured by the sounds contained within.