Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan — Silence (Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise Remix)

Sarah McLachlan's vocal was already devastating on Delerium's original. Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise remix folded that vocal into a soft, patient build that treats the drop as a sunrise rather than a punch. It became the record that convinced pop radio, film supervisors and casual listeners that vocal trance was a serious category.

Delerium is the ambient side-project of Front Line Assembly's Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber. 'Silence' appeared on their 1997 album Karma as a five-minute downtempo ballad; Sarah McLachlan recorded her vocal in one 45-minute session at Nettwerk's Vancouver studio, apparently under the impression it was for an ambient B-side. It was not released as a single until Fulber's persistence forced Nettwerk's hand in late 1999.

Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise Remix — one of five 'official' remixes commissioned for the 2000 single campaign — was cut in Tijs Verwest's Breda home studio over a weekend using a Waldorf Q, Access Virus B, and Emu E-Synth. The remix pitches McLachlan's vocal down a semitone, extends the breakdown to nearly two minutes, and holds back the kick until 3:20. The DJ-Tiësto & Airscape Remix (a harder, later cut) is often confused with the ISOS mix; the ISOS version is the softer, more reverent one.

The single reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in November 2000 — the highest-charting vocal-trance single ever at that point. Won 'Best Dance Recording' at the 2001 Juno Awards. Tiësto's remix was voted #1 Trance Record of 2000 in DJ Mag's year-end poll, ahead of Storm's 'Storm' and ATB's 'The Fields Of Love'.

• UK Singles Chart#3
• Billboard Hot Dance Airplay (US)#1
• Canadian Singles Chart#1

• 1:20'Give me release' — first full vocal line.
• 3:20The kick finally lands after almost two minutes of build.
• 6:15Vocal a-cappella outro over the string pad.

• Original Album Mix (1997)

  Downtempo ballad; almost no percussion.

• Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise Remix (2000)

  The soft, patient definitive.

• DJ Tiësto & Airscape Remix (2000)

  Harder peak-time reinterpretation.

• Sanctuary Mix (Airscape)

  Progressive/tech-trance rework.

• Fade's Sanctuary Mix

  The rarer B-side; deeper, dubbier.

'Silence' is the licensing benchmark for every vocal-trance crossover that followed — Chicane's 'Don't Give Up', iiO's 'Rapture', DJ Sammy's 'Heaven', Delerium's own 'Innocente'. Sarah McLachlan re-recorded her vocal for a Tiësto vs Sarah McLachlan reissue in 2004; sales of the reissue crossed one million globally.

• Sarah McLachlan was paid a flat session fee for the original vocal; she has since called it 'the most lucrative 45 minutes of my career' after royalties from the reissue.
• The 'In Search Of Sunrise' name refers to Tiësto's mix-compilation series, launched the same year.
• The full run of officially licensed remixes across all pressings totals 24 versions.