Motorcycle — As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Sweeping Strings Mix)

Motorcycle was a one-off collaboration between US producer duo Gabriel & Dresden and Californian singer JES Brieden. The Sweeping Strings Mix — one of two mixes commissioned for the 2003 single campaign — is the record that redefined what vocal trance could sound like when the vocal and the production were written together from the ground up rather than a vocal being pasted onto an existing instrumental. It has been the reference point for vocal-trance A&Rs ever since.

Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden had been running the Organized Nature label out of San Francisco since 2001 and had already produced Delerium remixes and their own Bloom EP for Anjunabeats. JES Brieden was a session vocalist who had toured with BT and Christopher Lawrence. The three met at a WMC Miami party in March 2003; the demo of As The Rush Comes was cut in Gabriel's Oakland studio over a single week in June and mastered by Robert Vosgien at CMS in Los Angeles.

132 BPM, D minor, built around a rolling offbeat sub-bass and a string arrangement written specifically to duck around the vocal. The 'Sweeping Strings Mix' name refers to the automated filter sweep on the string bus that opens and closes across every eight bars. JES recorded the lead vocal in three takes; the harmonies were stacked in an afternoon. Gabriel & Dresden have said the mix decision that made the record work was 'sitting the vocal high and dry in the mix, with no reverb on the lead take.'

Reached #29 on the UK Singles Chart in early 2004 and #1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for four weeks. Voted #2 Trance Record of 2003 by DJ Mag readers, behind only Tiësto's 'Traffic'. Nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 2005 Grammy Awards — a rare crossover moment for a straight vocal-trance record.

• US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play#1
• UK Singles Chart#29
• DJ Mag Trance Records Of 2003#2

• 0:45String arrangement enters — automated filter sweep on the bus.
• 1:32JES's first vocal line — 'as the rush comes'. No reverb.
• 3:50Second breakdown. Vocal a cappella over sustained pad.

• Gabriel & Dresden Sweeping Strings Mix (2003)

  The definitive vocal-trance version. The one you know.

• Gabriel & Dresden Tech Funk Mix

  The harder, groovier B-side rework for tech-house DJs.

• Andy Moor Remix (2004)

  Peak-time uplifting rebuild for Anjunabeats.

• Armin van Buuren Remix (2004)

  138 BPM rework; became a Top 10 record at ASOT for two years.

As The Rush Comes reset the standard for how a vocal trance record should be produced. Every subsequent Anjunabeats and Enhanced Music vocal release from 2004 onwards used its template — vocal-first songwriting, string arrangements written around the vocal, no reverb on the lead take. JES went on to be one of the most in-demand trance vocalists of the decade, working with Tiësto, ATB and Armin van Buuren. Gabriel & Dresden broke up in 2008, reunited in 2011, and still open with the record at essentially every DJ set they play.

• JES's vocal is a single continuous take from bar one to the final chorus; no comping.
• Motorcycle never released a follow-up single. The name was retired after the 2004 remix campaign.
• The Grammy nomination made Gabriel & Dresden the first US-based trance producers ever nominated in the Best Dance Recording category.