Italian-led 1990s style featuring slow, melodic piano hooks over trance grooves — also known as dream house.
Definition
Dream trance — sometimes called dream house — is a 1990s subgenre that emerged largely from the Italian dance scene, with Robert Miles' "Children" (1995) and "Fable" (1996) as its breakthrough moments. The style is characterised by slow, melancholic piano hooks (often arpeggiated) carrying the main melody over trance-style four-on-the-floor grooves at moderate tempos (usually 130–135 BPM), with reduced bass aggression and a heavy emphasis on emotional resolution. Robert Miles famously composed "Children" as a gentler closing track to soothe ravers driving home in the small hours, and the style retained that introspective, almost cinematic quality. Dream trance had its commercial peak in the mid-90s but its DNA persists in the sentimental side of modern progressive and vocal trance.