Nine of the ten tracks on 'Uplifting Sunrise' run at a locked 140 BPM; the outlier —seventh in the running order— is 'Time & Space' in its remastered version, dropping to 104 and carving a valley just past the album's midpoint. That is the record's entire tempo architecture, and that is exactly why it reads so clearly: there is no rising curve, just a plateau with a single crack, with the energy managed through keys and durations rather than the metronome.
The first block, tracks 1 through 6, climbs without touching the tempo. 'Pink Sunset' opens in A minor with 6:51 of room to settle the pulse; 'Playful Fox' and 'Speeding Up Time' chain together in D and E minor, harmonic neighbours that invite long blends; 'Euphoric Dream', the shortest cut of the stretch, bridges into 'Phantom (Reprise)', which at 7:15 is the album's longest piece and the emotional ceiling of the first half. 'Galaxy Light', in B minor, leaves the block hanging right before the drop-off.
The climb back from 104 to 140 comes with a trick: 'Playful Fox' returns as a Rework Mix in the same D minor as the original, so the record mirrors itself on both sides of the valley. From there, 'Star Powder' and 'The Storm' share C minor and form a tonally compact ending; that the finale arrives with the shortest track of the whole set (5:36) reinforces the feeling of a quick release after so much plateau.
In the booth, the sensible move is to carve it up: tracks 1 to 3 as a progressive opening, 5 and 6 for the high stretch, and 8 to 10 as the home straight, saving 'Time & Space' for a floor reset. Litunov is also playing at home: the Blue Star Records catalogue lists his earlier album 'Pro Trance', he has featured on label compilations like 'Melodic Trance 2022', and titles such as 'Trance Sunset' round out a discography devoted to the genre. 'Uplifting Sunrise' fits that line: everything in minor keys, everything serving the melody, and a single pause for breath.
Sources: Beatport · Blue Star Records