#1 Track of 2013

In like fashion to last year, I'm here to provide my thoughts on my favorite track of the year for 2013.  Last year's winner from my vantage point was DAVI's excellent "Labyrinth" (Club Mix).  I'm still enjoying this one as it's a definite barnstormer of a track that would certainly light the dancefloor on a fire on any given night and, in my opinion, was overlooked by many DJs.

For this year, I shift gears a bit from the 100% non-vocal tracks I usually prefer and focus on one of the most outstanding vocal progressive house tracks I've heard in a really long time.  The music stems from the artist Jake Fairley under his Fairmont moniker on the track titled "Last Dance" and the remix comes from the always stellar Ewan Pearson handling the mix controls.  Vocals and progressive house really don't historically go well together and it's often the case that if the track has vocals they are limited and almost incoherent as to not distract from the mainline established by the rhythm of the music.  So when a track comes by that has more than a few vocals that are clearly enunciated, an amazingly danceable baseline and actually tells a story, it's definitely of interest to me on whether or not the execution has been pulled off successfully.  

And, I can tell you without hesitation that the execution of Faimont's "Last Dance" along with Ewan Pearson's remix is absolutely stunning.  Ewan Pearson's rendition sits at what mind be considered a lengthy ten minutes but the development of the track with it's initial melancholy synths and Echomen-like storytelling vocals is outstanding as the music segues into a spiraling barrage of sounds that twist and turn amongst the backdrop of a guitar riff that elicits images of a truly emotional last dance.  This track is the most apt encore of the year and the combination of Pearson and Fairmont has proven so incredibly successful that I sincerely hope there's more to come.  The Ewan Pearson remix of Fairmont's "Last Dance" is available on iTunes.