Ferry Corsten Talks About Unleashing His Concept Album “Blueprint” in our Exclusive Interview

Ferry Corsten has long be a vanguard in the electronic music scene. Its hard to imagine a conversation about trance music without mentioning his many accomplishments. His latest release, Blueprint, is a major departure from the traditional formula of an album, as well as a minor departure from his traditional trance stylings

The album combines the narrative motifs of a cinematic sci-fi story and a diverse musical focus. While staying true to his roots as a trance producer, he also incorporates many popular genres into the album to heighten and carry the story. We had the opportunity to sit down with Ferry before his show at Foundation Nightclub in Seattle, to discuss all things Blueprint. 

The idea for the album itself has been something that Corsten wanted to do for quite some time. It wasn’t until he had a conversation with his father that things really began rolling. “My dad said why don’t you get that thing done that you’ve always wanted to do,” he described? Ferry knew that it would be a “huge undertaking” to exact his concept into an album.

Blueprint has proven itself to be a revolutionary album

Luckily a friend from school put him in touch with acclaimed screen writer David H. Miller (House of Cards, Rosewood). And it took a while to “feel each other out,” they both landed on a sci-fi theme after discovering their mutual admiration for the genre. The album grew from there, and was built around that story.

[pullquote align=”right”]”When you’re doing an album, especially if you’re trying tell a story, it can’t be all banging trance tracks.”[/pullquote]

The album includes a plethora of different musical stylings, echoing the sound of heavy hitters like Eric Prydz, Deadmau5, and even Ferry’s own Gouryella brand, while also stepping out of the norm with a “chillstep, bass, whatever if you want to give it a name” track.

There was never a worry about pleasing a specific audience, Ferry says, expounding on how  “I’ve never made my albums for the trance purists,” or to appeal to a singular definition of what trance is. He goes on to describe a sound that’s “very melodic; it generates this hair-raising emotion.” “That is trance for me,” he describes, “Trance is an emotion. It is not a sound.” It would seem that by playing to those specific emotions, it would almost be impossible to create something new or take that concept even further, making Blueprint’‘s unique sound that much more impressive.

“That is trance for me: An emotion — it is not a sound.”

Many want to take this album and the story and turn into a cinematic release given the nature and quality of the story. Although initially, that’s not something that was considered in the first place. “Honestly that is something that came later. My first idea was audiobook. That’s all I really wanted.” But the “signals” started coming from Hollywood, talking about how “this is the bridge,” between the world of electronic music and Hollywood.

There’s a void that needs to be filled, and David H. Miller has taken a look at the story again to see if it could be refined into a series of stories. Currently there are a lot of “calls and potential for it to be something more”, but there is nothing concrete just yet.

Oddly enough, the sci-fi-inspired concept album was released right around the 40th anniversary of one of sci-fi’s greatest stories, Star Wars. This was not planned however, as it was just a happy coincidence. “I didn’t even know that,” he admits, “It started really happening about a year ago and it is pure coincidence that it landed during that.”

“They thought it was a bold decision. For me, it’s like, how do you want to have your series of singles remembered in ten years. Skip through the tracks you don’t like, but with [Blueprint], you are kind of forced to listen to the whole thing so you don’t miss the story.”

This is one of the greatest albums we’ve listened to in a long time and we highly recommend you take the time to listen to the album as a whole. It’s not often that you will be on the edge of your seat wondering what the next track will bring. It sucks you in and brings you to new kind of listening experience. If you have listened to the album, what are your thoughts? Listen to Blueprint below, and let us know your own thoughts in the comments!