Miguel Ramirez
With Above & Beyond Acoustic, the group are putting aside their CDJs and lighting rigs to showcase their deeply-rooted musicianship and classical training.
“The acoustic project is a reconnection with the musicians that we were before we met,” said Above & Beyond’s Tony McGuinness.
“The songs have been on an interesting journey to get here because we tend to write in a fairly acoustic way anyway. We don’t just stick a bit of vocal over a dance track – that’s not how we work. We try to start with a song and it’s usually only later down the line that we take certain elements from that song and progress them into a more dancefloor-friendly version.”
A band first and foremost, Above & Beyond are songwriters as much as they are DJs. Working with three singers, a string quartet, harpist, drummer and bassist, Above & Beyond pushed the boundaries of EDM with their acoustic album. Tony McGuinness sings and plays guitar, mandolin and ukulele, Paavo SiljamŠki plays the grand piano and cello, and Jono Grant plays the Rhodes piano, guitar and vibraphone.
Above & Beyond, one of the UK’s biggest dance acts, will be playing two acoustic shows at the Sydney Opera House on Monday 6 June, 2016 and their new edition of #ABAcoustic will be released later this year.
Happy two years #ABAcoustic! Purchase your copy here.
