Track of the Day: Moya Brennan & Trance Wax - 'Rivers'

Trance Wax (Belfast’s Garry McCartney) has teamed up with the First Lady of Celtic Music - Clannad's Moya Brennan - for their new collaborative dance track 'Rivers'.

Trace Wax was launched as an anonymous series of vinyl-only bootlegs back in 2015 as a way for McCartney to celebrate the formative sounds that he first fell in love with as a Belfast teenager.

Electronic music label Anjunabeats is now welcoming Grammy Award-winning Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, philanthropist Moya Brennan to the British label as a guest.

For his debut album, Trance Wax - the nostalgia infused alias of Ejeca - was able to recruit Moya for another go around the classic trance carousel on the track, 'Rivers'.

Brennan’s achievements and influence as both a solo artist and a member of her family’s legendary band Clannad are monumental. In addition to recording 17 records with Clannad (which included receiving a Grammy, a BAFTA, and an Ivor Novello award), Moya’s had an impactful solo career to the tune of 25 albums and sales in excess of 20 million records.

In 2020, Moya was part of the Irish Women in Harmony collective, which recorded a version of "Dreams" in aid of Safe Ireland - a charity that deals with domestic abuse.

This isn't the first time the Irish trad sensation has put her voice onto a dance track. Chicane’s 1999 classic 'Saltwater' utilised the otherworldly sound of Moya's vocals to create one of the defining moments in dance music history and a crossover sensation. Incorporating parts of Clannad’s 1992 hit 'Harry’s Game', 'Saltwater' raced up the UK Singles Chart to No. 6.

On 'Rivers', Brennan stretches her genre wings to mark another successful team project.

“Garry sent some ideas to us and I listened to them for a couple of days. I couldn't wait to get into the studio because you kind of feel that sense of a canvas and adding the colours," Brennan said of working with Trance Wax.

"The more I keep hearing, the more I sing. I concentrate first of all on the melody and make sure that I've captured the sense and the essence of the chorus. I was thrilled when I sent it to Garry and right away loved it.

"Garry is an amazing musician, and he's really into delving into all sorts of alternative ways of using the different vocals," the musician added. "I sent him a lot of different ideas, the verses, the choruses, the harmonies, and a few other bits. I sent him the lot to see if he could use any of it and he ended up using it all,” Brennan says.

Garry McCartney also described his excitement at the prospect of working with such a huge name:

“It was an honour to make a song with Celtic legend Moya Brennan. Her magical ethereal tones encapsulate what I was trying to do on the album. The song is about being home and a sense of belonging, I hope you all enjoy.”

In 2020, Anjunabeats released a stirring, self-titled LP debut from Trance Wax featuring 14 original compositions. The album is a celebration of communal euphoria and a love-letter to the golden age of trance through the eyes of a modern production star at the top of his game.

Listen to his new single with Moya Brennan, 'Rivers', below:

https://open.spotify.com/track/0bdduGvtFcL4oP2p6n7HLI