Gareth Emery releases third artist album, ‘100 Reasons to Live’

When your album debuts at the top of its iTunes genre charts, it's time for a pat on the back.

By the transitive property, producer and DJ Gareth Emery deserves a congratulatory mention. His third studio album, 100 Reasons to Live, was officially released via his own Garuda imprint on Friday, and almost immediately jumped to the top of the dance chart. The album follows his two past LPs – 2010's Northern Lights and 2014's Drive – and two years of work leading up to its release. Emery's work straddles the line between trance, progressive, and crossover pop, with each track having a unique feel.

Tracks like "Cloudline" are sunset-worthy, while those like "Far From Home" have a big room, passionate feel with an inescapable melody. Then there's his classically Garuda-sounding tracks, like his electro trance collaborations with Ben Gold on "Until We Meet Again" and the comical "CVNT5" with Ashley Wallbridge. 100 Reasons to Live also includes collaborations with X Factor winners Alex and Sierra, and of course, friend and musical partner on the career-defining "Concrete Angel," Christina Novelli. For those who loved the laid back feel of tracks like "El Segundo" from Nothern Lights, there's "Cloudline" featuring Joseph, and for those that loved "Long Way Home," from Drive, there's its updated sequel "Sansa."

If there is one thing we can learn from 100 Reasons to Live, it's that Gareth Emery has figured out a good balance between evolving his music to address new fans, while keeping his recognizable style in tact. His way with melody and ability to produce emotion when working with the right vocalist is as impressive as ever, and because of his adaptability, it's almost as if the dance/pop crossover movement was made for him. On the release of the album, Emery shared his passion and personal struggle through a post on Instagram and on Facebook. They say that an artist's best work comes from dark times, right?

100 Reasons to Live is available to stream and download through multiple outlets, all laid out here.

Strange but true fact: about two years ago, I was fucking miserable. I didn't have any reason to be. I was reasonably successful, in a job that I loved, was married to a beautiful wife, lived in an amazing house, had no recent major tragedy in my life, or any of the other things that make people unhappy, yet I was pretty much constantly annoyed. Why? Because a festival I wanted to play wouldn’t book me. Because I wanted to stay in a suite, but the promoter would only book me a standard room. Because my brand-new Lamborghini was going to take nine months to be delivered from the factory, when I wanted it in six. You probably hate me reading that. I don’t blame you. Reading this back, I hate me, too. However, there is a depressing trend that I have noticed amongst famous + successful DJs: just how many of them are really fucking unhappy. They’re traveling the world, living a lifelong dream that took decades of work to accomplish, and yet they’re constantly pissed because they were given Moet instead of Cristal, or because one person on social media said their new record sucked. Boo fucking hoo. Bring out the violins. Short story long, that was how 100 Reasons To Live got its name. I saw myself turning into an archetypal miserable DJ and decided that was not the person I wanted to be. I figured out that happiness and a love of life doesn’t come from career success or material wealth; in fact, some of the happiest people I knew were, on paper, some of the less successful. Now, I’m not saying “don’t make money” or “don’t be successful”. I happen to be a fan of both. But I learned that those things alone don’t make me happy. Why does make me happy? Many things. Sunshine. Walking outside. Beers at the pub with friends. Taking my daughter to music class. Lazy Sundays. Sunsets. Swimming. Turning off my phone, logging out of emails, getting off the social media hamster wheel, and engaging the world around me – something which I’d totally lost the ability to do. In short, I rediscovered what made me happy, or in other words, figured out my ‘Reasons To Live’, and then stuck '100' in the front for no other reason than it sounded better. It’s out today, by the way

A photo posted by Gareth Emery (@garethemery) on Apr 1, 2016 at 6:59am PDT

Tracklisting:

The Story So Far
Cloudline feat. Joseph
Far From Home feat. Gavrielle
Reckless feat. Wayward Daughter
We Were Young feat. Alex & Sierra
CVNT5 feat. Ashley Wallbridge
Make It Happen feat. Lawson
Hands with Alastor feat. London Thor
Lost feat. Janet Devlin
Save Me feat. Christina Novelli
Until We Meet Again feat. Ben Gold
I Could Be Stronger (But Only For You)
Sansa

Bonus track
14. Cruiser feat. Alex Sonata

Gareth Emery on Tour:

Thu 4/7 Washington, DC Soundcheck
Fri 4/8 Denver, CO The Church
Sat 4/9 Chicago, IL Evil One
Wed 4/13 Brooklyn, NY Output
Thu 4/14 Austin, TX Kingdom
Sat 4/16 San Francisco, CA Audio SF
Wed 4/20 Boston, MA Ascend
Thu 4/21 Toronto, ON Coda
Fri 4/22 Minneapolis. MN Spades
Connect with Gareth Emery: Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram