Faithless — Insomnia (Monster Mix)

Maxi Jazz's insomniac monologue over one of the most recognisable synth stabs ever committed to tape. Insomnia sits on the border between progressive trance, tech-house and big-beat and refuses to fully commit to any of them, which is precisely why it never dates.

Faithless was founded by Rollo Armstrong (brother of Dido), Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz in 1994. 'Insomnia' was written in Rollo's Camden studio in early 1995; Maxi Jazz has said the lyric — 'I can't get no sleep' — came directly from a period of genuine insomnia that summer. Sister Bliss programmed the beat and the famous synth stab on a Roland JP-8000 and an Akai S1000.

The Monster Mix (the definitive version) runs at 130 BPM in F minor. The stab is a JP-8000 patch layered with a sampled orchestral hit, filtered through a Sherman Filterbank. The vocal is recorded in one take through a Neumann U87. The breakdown that arrives at 4:20 — six bars of pad and reverb tail — was inserted specifically at Rollo's insistence over Sister Bliss's initial objection; DJ history has vindicated Rollo.

The original 1995 release charted at #27 UK. The 1996 re-release, promoted after the 'Reverence' album gained momentum, reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1996 and stayed in the Top 40 for 15 weeks. Sold over 1M copies globally by 1998. Voted Mixmag's Best Dance Record of 1996.

• UK Singles Chart (1996 re-release)#3
• German Singles Chart#4
• Mixmag Dance Record of the Year 1996#1

• 0:45Maxi Jazz begins the monologue.
• 2:30The stab enters.
• 4:20The breakdown. Six bars. Pad only.
• 5:00'I can't get no sleep' — full vocal drop.

• Monster Mix (1995)

  The definitive 8:37 club version.

• Radio Edit (1996)

  3:38 cut serviced to Radio 1.

• Armin van Buuren Remix (2005)

  Full-uplifting rework for the Forever Faithless retrospective.

• Avicii Remix (2016)

  Controversial; largely disowned by fans.

'Insomnia' effectively invented the 'spoken-word-vocal-trance' template that Sash!, ATB and Delerium would later commercialise. The Monster Mix stab has been sampled, referenced or homaged in dozens of records (most explicitly Avicii's 'Levels', which Rollo has publicly acknowledged as a debt). Faithless retired the track from live sets in 2011 after their 'farewell' tour, but returned it in 2020.

• Rollo Armstrong is Dido's older brother; Dido sang backing vocals on Faithless's second album.
• Maxi Jazz kept his day job as a courier for the first six months of the record's chart run.
• The Sherman Filterbank Sister Bliss used on the stab was borrowed from Underworld's studio.