Above & Beyond Tugs At The Heartstrings With Acoustic Album

Posted by Middy on February 5, 2014

Above & Beyond first made the acoustic dream a reality back in June with 4 sold-out shows at London’s Porchester Hall and then again with two sold-out shows at the Los Angeles Greek Theater, where a Sonny Moore decided to sit in on bass for a tune. The trio described the impetus for creating the album “The acoustic project is a reconnection with the musicians that we were before we met”. As they have said, Above & Beyond are musicians who craft their electronic tracks using instruments and then create the parts from their instrumentation. Knowing that, such an endeavor not only seems possible, it seems likely that Tony, Paavo and Jono would come together to create this stunning piece of work. Watch / listen to the live performance at Porchester Hall and read on for the rest of the review. Grab the album on iTunes or their website, or enter our contest for a chance to win a copy plus other merch.

A&B Acoustic draws upon their decade-long discography, spanning from the current Group Therapy era, going back to Ocean Lab and those soothing vocal classics. You won’t find an instrumental tune here, allowing for the raw talent of their singers like Zoe Johnston and Tony who sings on many tunes to shine. They call upon many different categories of instruments, adding trumpets and horns to crooning female vocals for an almost James Bond effect in “Can’t Sleep” and Tony’s booming male vocals in “Along Tonight”. Much like their electronic productions, strings, pianos and various percussion make up the vast majority of the music space, only this time in a much more raw and emotional way. They add one new song to the album “Making Plans” that is just as good as everything they have done before.

Even though we have heard all but one of these songs before, the re-imagined creativity and stunning beauty bestowed upon each tune creates an entirely new atmosphere and breathes new life into each and every one of them. Sometimes covers can be a bit uninspired, but these takes on genuine classics are breathtaking and worthy of the highest praise.

Tags: Above Beyond, acoustic, album, atmosphere, contest, covers, Greek Theater, London, London Porchester Hall, Los, Moore, Porchester Hall, project, Sonny Moore, vocals