That the eighth album from Markus Schulz is arriving in extraordinary times scarcelyneeds saying. Some already have - many more will. It’s the direction that artists chose totake with that wealth of additional production time that’s now providing the real insights.By way of example some might’ve imagined that Markus would take our harder times as theartistic cue to re-don his Dakota mask as he last did in the winter of 2017. What’s establishedinside the first three tracks of ‘Escape’, however is that he’s headed it in almost entirely theopposite direction. Topping even the headily life-affirming heights of 2018’s ‘We Are TheLight’, he’s delivered his most heartening, elevating new music assembly to date.With ‘up’ its sole goal, Markus has put together a singer/co-writer teamsheet that feelsinstinctive in choice and proves (by virtue of his accrued studio years) alchemic in outcome.Drawing on talent new & established, it splits its productions between solos, first-time debutsand collaborative reteams, developing in turn an album that tonally reaches all the way fromthe eclectic to the mainstream.

Naturally it includes Markus’s most recent single dispatches: ‘Indestructible’ & ‘In Search OfSunrise’ with Adina Butar, April’s ‘Are You With Me’ and ‘Feel Alive’, with London Thor &Valentino Alessandrini. It further features 11 previously unheard Schulz cuts, includingnumbers with HALIENE & Christina Novelli, as well as first time artistic partnerships withRoxanne Emery and Christian Burns.From the deserts of Sedona, Arizona and Utah’s Moab to iconic spots like Colorado’s TheRockies and Route 66, over the last month Schulz literally set the album’s scene. Playingsets framed by some of the most awe-inspiring and emotionally elevating sights the UnitedStates has on offer, they provided the perfect backdrop-escape for ‘Escape’. Episode 1 of hismix-tour (Escape To Sedona) launches online October 1, with new episodes dropping weeklythroughout the Fall.Musically, Markus doesn’t even let its overture number pass before pointing the album’s tonaldirection North. With ‘Escape’s title track setting the precedent, its quick to press the pointwith the abundant exuberance of current single ‘Feel Alive’. Recruiting both Ethan Thompson& Soundland to ‘Make It Last Forever’, Schulz unites two ‘Watch The World’ collaborators toone track. Following recent paired outings, ‘Escape’s midpoint meanwhile brings the vocalrush of ‘Tidal Wave’, ‘In Search Of Sunrise’, ‘Not Afraid To Fall’ and ‘Second Day’, signalingswift recalls for the vocal talents of HALIENE, Adina Butar, Christina Novelli and JES.‘Circles Around Me’, ‘Blue Dream’ and ‘Sunday Chords’ add calmer, but no-less-optimisticnotes to the album’s stitch. Its triumphant one-two closeout however is reserved for adual-collaboration-debut, with Markus working alongside Christian Burns on ‘Wait For You’and Roxanne Emery on its swansong, ‘Gold Dust’.Extraordinary times call for extra-ordinary albums and the eighth collection from MarkusSchulz is that to-its- core.