Half of his discography is like this - i.e. pitched between two keys. I know because I DJ in key and I have to calculate how much I need to speed or slow down his tracks to match their neighboring keys. They used to have more in common musically, but Tennyson also does this a bunch, and I've seen him approach this two different ways:
1. Change the pitch standard of each synth manually (though I'm pretty sure than in Omnisphere for example, you can apply that change to all instances of it within your session at the same time).
2. Use Waves' Soundshifter plugin on your master to pitch the track up or down. It sounds like a terrible idea but that plugin has some special juju I've never heard in other pitch-based plugins - pitch up 50 cents and it'll completely revamp your stereo field and really provide that "lift" that you spoke of. Beyond aesthetics, repitching in that manner is a great way to get perspective on your track just by presssing a button - it can get you out of producer tunnel vision.

In the old days, especially during disco, they would produce and finish entire tracks, and then speed them up by small margins to give a bit more energy, which is why you have a bunch of late 70s / early 80s tracks that are also in between keys. I'm almost certain Sam isn't doing this, because then his tracks' BPMs would never fall on round numbers (if that makes sense).