After 15 years of making trance music, Above and Beyond are now officially sitting at #1 on iTunes for something a little different: an all-acoustic album.
The album release comes after members Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamaki debuted acoustic versions of their music this summer in London. The 24-instrument orchestra was not only a success in the eyes of their massive fan base, but to all fans and critics who heard their new soothing compositions.
MTV News caught up with McGuinness and Siljamaki to find out just how much it took to go from producing on their laptops to directing an orchestra of live instruments.
“The process of translating these dance productions into songs is maybe simpler than it might have been, because we tend to write them in a fairly acoustic way. We sit down with a piano or an acoustic guitar,” McGuinness said. “We tend to write a song, get the song working in a basic way, and then start the dance production.”
When working in the other direction — taking the basic version of a song and making it into an electronic dance track — Tony describes the process as a “degree of embellishment.”
The guys are already at work on their next album, but what will it sound like? Has this acoustic work changed Above and Beyond’ s style forever, or will the group stick to its trance roots?
“We’ve really enjoyed the acoustic thing, and it shows what you can do if you look in that particular direction, but I don’t think we want to change directions,” McGuinness said. “It’s more a diversion.”
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