Institution · aka ISOS
In Search Of Sunrise — Definition
In Search Of Sunrise is a mix compilation series launched by Tiësto in 1999 on Black Hole Recordings. Named for its Ibiza-inflected, sunrise-oriented programming, the series ran through fifteen volumes and defined the melodic-progressive / vocal-trance sound of the early 2000s. Tiësto's 2003 Silence remix, first released on ISOS 3, remains the record most people associate with the entire series.
Where ASOT was built for peak-time drivetime, ISOS was built for the moments either side of it — the sunset warm-up and the sunrise cool-down. Later volumes were handled by Richard Durand and other Black Hole artists, but the first four Tiësto-mixed editions are the ones that define the sound.
The series matters because it made a case that trance did not have to be peak-time to be trance. Volumes 1 through 4 are paced deliberately slowly, lean progressive and Balearic rather than uplifting, and use vocal and downtempo material in positions where a conventional trance compilation would put an anthem. That programming choice legitimised an entire mode of listening away from the club.
It also became the template for the sunset-compilation format that Black Hole and others ran through the 2000s, and its influence is audible in any modern melodic-house or organic-house set that opens below 124 BPM before climbing.