ALBUMS: Above & Beyond Unveil “Acoustic II” Out on 03-06-16

Above & Beyond are a phenomenon unlike any other in dance music. The Grammy-nominated producers are the only British dance act to sell out Madison Square Garden, and now are about to take an 18-piece band set up on a sold-out tour of the world’s most iconic concert halls (including London’s Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House and Hollywood Bowl) in support of “Acoustic II”, which will be released June 3Rd,  2016 on Anjunabeats/Ultra Music.

The “Acoustic II” studio album and accompanying show–described by Billboard as “…one of the finest and more memorable shows in EDM history”–represents yet another against-the-odds landmark in the unique story of Above & Beyond.

For Above & Beyond, the secret is in the songs. Sung back at them by thousands at their celebratory DJ sets, the trio’s tales of life, love and loss have sound-tracked weddings, proposals, hikes up Everest, marathons and funerals. Following on last year’s critically acclaimed electronic album “We Are All We Need”, “Acoustic II” features re-imagined versions of several of the best-loved songs from that album, alongside classics from Above & Beyond’s extensive back catalogue. The music of “Acoustic II” is made for concert halls rather than clubs; breathing new life and context into the songs that have made Above & Beyond famous.

The recording process for “Acoustic II” began in late summer 2015 as Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki once again got together with Leeds-based musical director Bob Bradley, who’d worked on “Acoustic”, to assemble a new selection of songs with a view to reinventing and re-recording them. From the initial pool of contenders, a core of 13 songs were agreed upon.

The Grammy-nominated We’re All We Need, a collaboration with singer/songwriter Zoë Johnston, was an obvious choice. The addition of mandolin and ukelele was less obvious, but the instruments are an inspired addition to its wee-hours, orchestral-jazz rendering. Sticky Fingers, an album teaser single from 2013, is another standout, here re-rubbed into a stirring, swelling, 007-worthy love theme.

“The great thing about this version of Sticky Fingers is that, before this, the only version we had out there was a dance mix,” says Above & Beyond’s Tony McGuninness. “There was more of a song that we never released. So the whole song is in this version of Sticky Fingers and it’s the same with Peace Of Mind – there are extra verses here.”

Also featured on the new album is an acoustic version of the new OceanLab (Above & Beyond’s alias with Justine Suissa) single Another Chance – which is one of three songs available to download now as an instant gift when you pre-order the album, alongside We’re All We Need and Hello, and a majestic, string-laden reworking of On My Way To Heaven.

“With the first acoustic album, it was guitars, piano, strings and vocals that were the bare bones of what we were working with,” added fellow band member Paavo Siljamaki. “This time around we thought: ‘what other kinds of things can we do?’ So brass is a really big player on Acoustic II: we added a lot of John Barry-esque brass horns. And we wondered what interesting things we could do with the voices, so there are a lot of choral and bigger vocal arrangements than on the first one. Really, this album is standing on the shoulders of the first one. If we’d have tried this then, it would have been overwhelming and too much for us to do.”

For the album recordings, the original vocalists are featured on their respective tracks. As for the live shows, original vocalists Zoë Johnston and Justine Suissa are joined by newcomers Natalie Holmes and Cobi, while Jono, Tony and Paavo reach back into their own individual musical histories to perform different parts of the arrangements, including JONO on Rhodes, Tony on guitar and vocals, and Paavo on piano.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Hello
2. We’re All We Need
3. On My Way To Heaven
4. Save Me
5. All Over The World
6. No One On Earth
7. Black Room Boy
8. Peace Of Mind
9. Sticky Fingers
10. Alchemy
11. Counting Down The Days / Liquid Love
12. Blue Sky Action
13. Another Chance

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