In Search Of Sunrise 22 mixed by Markus Schulz

In Search Of Sunrise 22 succeeds because Markus Schulz does not treat its three chapters as interchangeable collections of tracks. Across The Awakening, Nirvana and Nocturnal Voyage, the 53-track trilogy moves from spacious progressive storytelling through increasingly euphoric Trance into a darker, hypnotic late-night finale.

Released across three stages between August and October 2026, ISOS22 is now available in its complete form. That finally makes it possible to judge the edition as intended: not as three isolated releases, but as one extended journey through different phases of the same musical night.

A Legendary Search Continues

In Search Of Sunrise has always been more than a conventional mix compilation. From its early years with Tiësto through Richard Durand’s stewardship and the later multi-DJ editions, the series built its identity around atmosphere, progression and the idea of music accompanying a journey rather than simply documenting a moment in club culture.

Markus Schulz has gradually reshaped that tradition around his own progressive and Trance vocabulary. With In Search Of Sunrise 22, he takes full control of all three chapters for the first time in this era of the series, turning The Awakening, Nirvana and Nocturnal Voyage into different stages of one extended musical narrative rather than three independent showcase mixes.

Three Chapters, One Complete Experience

In Search Of Sunrise 22 was released across three distinct chapters rather than as one simultaneous compilation, allowing each mix to establish its own identity before the full journey came together.

The Awakening opened the trilogy on August 5th, followed by Nirvana on August 28th. The final chapter, Nocturnal Voyage, arrived on October 7th, completing a 53-track journey that moves from spacious progressive storytelling through an increasingly Trance-focused emotional centre into a darker, more hypnotic final act.

That structure suits the fundamental idea behind In Search Of Sunrise. A great mix compilation is not defined only by the quality of its individual tracks. Its deeper value emerges through pacing, transitions, contrasts and the gradual movement between different states of energy and emotion.

The Awakening – Space, Patience And The First Light

The Awakening is the most spacious of the three chapters and the one that remains closest to the traditional emotional idea behind In Search Of Sunrise. Markus Schulz allows the mix to unfold patiently, favouring atmosphere, progressive movement and gradual transitions over immediate peak-time impact.

That restraint is essential. Familiar names and melodies appear throughout the journey, but they rarely feel positioned purely for recognition. Instead, records such as the new interpretations of established Trance material become reference points inside a mix that is primarily concerned with movement and mood. The result feels less like a sequence of highlights and more like the beginning of a long journey in which the destination is deliberately kept at a distance.

There is also a softness to The Awakening that becomes more meaningful once the trilogy is heard in full. Its melodic openness and slower-building energy create the contrast required for what follows. On its own, the mix can occasionally feel almost too controlled; within ISOS22, that patience becomes one of its strengths.

Its role in the trilogy: establishing space, atmosphere and emotional orientation before the energy begins to rise.

Nirvana – The Emotional And Trance-Focused Centre

If The Awakening establishes the landscape, Nirvana provides the emotional centre. The second chapter is more recognisably Trance-driven, more direct in its melodic payoffs and generally closer to the sound many listeners will instinctively associate with Markus Schulz and In Search Of Sunrise.

The mix increases the sense of momentum without abandoning the long-form approach of the opening chapter. Tracks are given clearer peaks, vocals and uplifting elements become more prominent, and the emotional language becomes less ambiguous. That makes Nirvana the most immediately accessible part of the trilogy.

Crucially, it does not simply repeat The Awakening at a higher energy level. The second chapter feels warmer and more human, particularly when personal or vocal records interrupt the progressive flow. That gives the middle section genuine purpose: it is the point at which the journey opens up emotionally before the third mix deliberately closes the walls around the listener again.

The only risk is that Nirvana can feel like the safest of the three chapters. Its musical language is familiar and its emotional cues are clear. But positioned between the spacious first mix and the considerably darker finale, that familiarity becomes useful rather than predictable.

Its role in the trilogy: delivering the clearest Trance identity and the strongest emotional release.

Nocturnal Voyage – The Boldest Move

Nocturnal Voyage is where ISOS22 becomes genuinely interesting as a complete album. Markus Schulz deliberately moves away from the broader emotional peaks of Nirvana and into something more linear, hypnotic and rhythmically focused. The emphasis shifts toward groove, darker textures and a stronger Techno influence, with fewer dramatic builds and less dependence on obvious melodic resolution.

That approach fundamentally changes the feeling of the series. Instead of chasing another sunrise, the third chapter stays in the night.

The Dakota material is particularly important to that transition. Together with the darker reworks and the more restrained sequencing, those productions give Nocturnal Voyage an identity that is recognisably Markus Schulz but less obviously tied to conventional uplifting or progressive Trance expectations. Even familiar material is pulled into the same nocturnal frame.

That makes the mix both the trilogy’s greatest risk and its most necessary chapter. Heard in isolation, some listeners may question whether it stretches the In Search Of Sunrise identity too far toward Techno and afterhours territory. Heard after The Awakening and Nirvana, however, the darker direction makes considerably more sense. The journey has already supplied its light and emotional release; the final chapter is allowed to explore what happens afterwards.

The linearity also creates the mix’s main weakness. Listeners expecting the dramatic rise-and-fall structure associated with classic Trance compilations may find parts of Nocturnal Voyage intentionally understated. But that restraint is not accidental. It is the concept.

Its role in the trilogy: taking the established journey beyond its most comfortable definition and providing ISOS22 with a genuinely distinct final act.

Does The Three-Chapter Concept Pay Off?

The most important achievement of In Search Of Sunrise 22 is that its three chapters do not feel like three compilation mixes competing for attention. Each has a clear role within a larger arc.

The Awakening creates space. Nirvana supplies the emotional and Trance-focused centre. Nocturnal Voyage removes much of that comfort again and carries the listener into a darker, more hypnotic afterhours environment.

That structure gives ISOS22 something many multi-disc compilations lack: a reason for its length.

Across 53 tracks and almost four hours of continuous mixing, Markus Schulz does not simply increase the BPM or intensity from one chapter to the next. The progression is more psychological than numerical. The first chapter feels open and searching, the second more emotionally resolved, while the third deliberately becomes narrower, darker and more repetitive in its motion.

The strongest connective tissue is Schulz himself. Because all three chapters are mixed by the same curator, the transitions between styles feel intentional rather than imposed by three different artistic perspectives. Progressive, uplifting Trance, vocal material, Dakota-style darkness and Techno-influenced selections may occupy very different parts of the spectrum, but the sequencing gives them a shared sense of direction.

That does not mean the concept is flawless. The individual chapters are strong enough stylistically that some listeners will inevitably prefer one and rarely return to another. The Awakening may feel too patient for those looking for immediate impact; Nirvana can appear comparatively conventional; and Nocturnal Voyage will probably be the most divisive because it challenges expectations around what an In Search Of Sunrise mix should sound like.

But those differences are also precisely why the trilogy works.

Instead of defining In Search Of Sunrise through one tempo, one subgenre or one nostalgic reference point, Markus Schulz defines it through progression, atmosphere and destination. ISOS22 begins with the promise of light, reaches its most recognisable emotional peak in the middle and then deliberately chooses not to end there.

The sunrise is only part of the journey.

TranceAttack Verdict

In Search Of Sunrise 22 is at its strongest when it remembers that the identity of the series has never depended on one fixed definition of Trance. It depends on atmosphere, sequencing and the feeling that one record naturally leads toward the next.

Markus Schulz uses that freedom more aggressively here than on many previous editions. The Awakening gives the trilogy room to breathe, Nirvana supplies its most recognisably Trance-driven emotional centre, while Nocturnal Voyage deliberately pushes the concept into darker and more hypnotic territory.

That final shift will probably be the most divisive part of ISOS22, but it is also what prevents the compilation from becoming another exercise in nostalgia. Rather than recreating the sound associated with earlier editions, Schulz asks how the idea of In Search Of Sunrise can continue evolving in 2026.

Whether every listener follows him all the way into the night is another question. As a complete journey, however, ISOS22 has a clear sense of direction — and considerably more ambition than three conventional compilation mixes released under the same title.

Key Facts “In Search Of Sunrise 22”:

• Artist: Markus Schulz
• Title: In Search Of Sunrise 22
• Release Date: Mix 1 – August 5th, 2026 / Mix 2 – August 28th, 2026 / Mix 3 – October 7th, 2026
• Format: 3x DJ Mix Compilation
• Label: Black Hole Recordings
• Listen / buy the album here: https://blackhole.lnk.to/isos22

Tracklist:

Disc 1 – The Awakening

1. Markus Schulz x Dakota – Edge of Morning
2. PROFF x M.O.S. – Namtso
3. Mees Salomé x Celine x Joris Voorn – Fool’s Paradise (Joris Voorn Remix)
4. biskuwi – Eilu
5. PARAFRAME – 3 Worlds
6. Jerome Isma-Ae – Encounter (Discotheque Mix)
7. Carlo Mandy – Shoreline (Interlude)
8. Markus Schulz x RYVM – Dive
9. Rinzen x Emil Toledo – The Sound of Hope
10. Sonicvibe x Yoni Yarchi – Solara (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
11. JES x Alex M.O.R.P.H. x MRPHLNDR – Spellbound
12. Matt Fax – Ascend
13. Solarstone – Seven Cities (Solarstone’s Atlantis Mix)
14. French 79 x VER:WEST – Diamond Veins (VER:WEST Remix)
15. BLANCAh x NeoClassic x Hicky & Kalo – Travessia (Hicky & Kalo Remix)
16. Aeridan – Catalina (Interlude)
17. Paul Oakenfold x Markus Schulz x Grace – Not Over Yet
18. Above & Beyond x Marsh – Sun In Your Eyes (Marsh Remix)

Disc 2 – Nirvana

1. Aeridan – Between Moon And Morning
2. Markus Schulz & Dream A Lot – A Place Where We Are One
3. Giuseppe Ottaviani & Billy Gillies – Doves (In Search Of Sunrise Mix)
4. KhoMha – Ananke
5. Arctic Barbers – New Dawn
6. Markus Schulz – Second Tomorrow
7. Basil O’Glue – Ask What You Can Do
8. HI-LO – REESE
9. Daniel Wanrooy & Markus Schulz – Burned (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
10. Kryder & Markus Schulz – Pulse Of Hearts (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
11. Markus Schulz & Ciaran McAuley – Love In Every Tense
12. Kyau & Albert & Markus Schulz – Halo (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
13. First State & Mike EFEX – First State (Mike EFEX Remix)
14. Nemke – Stampedo
15. Markus Schulz & ALAT – Flashpoint
16. The Quest – Round Trip
17. Stoneface & Terminal – In Your Arms
18. Markus Schulz, Daxson & Elevation – A Breath To Hold

Disc 3 – Nocturnal Voyage

1. Markus Schulz presents Dakota – Twilight Ritual
2. Guy J. – Piece of Cake
3. Hobin Rude & N-TCHB – Shared Silence
4. Shadow Assembly – Eclipse
5. Elias Erium – The Longitude
6. Markus Schulz presents Dakota – Exit 302
7. Mike EFEX – Orbiter (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
8. Markus Schulz presents Dakota – Caught in the Haze
9. Enlusion – Midnight Mirage (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
10. Bart Skils & Weska – Dusk Till Dawn
11. Kryder – Ascension
12. John 00 Fleming & Astral Projection – Transient Symbiosis (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Rework)
13. Sander van Doorn presents Purple Haze – Abyss (In Search Of Sunrise Mix)
14. Rex Mundi vs. Ronski Speed & Sir Adrian – The Perspective Space (Markus Schulz In Search Of Sunrise Remix)
15. Markus Schulz – The West End
16. Carlos – The Silmarillia (Markus Schulz & BLR Remix)
17. BT – If Memory Serves (Lunar Mode)