Above & Beyond

There are very few musicians who manage to stay relevant and accomplished while continuing to produce groundbreaking material and delivering polished performances for the entire duration of their career. But for the last decade and a half, Tony McGuinness, Jono Grant, and Paavo Siljamäki of Above & Beyond have together and individually continued to mesmerize fans with spellbinding performances and timeless music that is all built upon the same formula that made them famous in 2000.

Perhaps what few people knew before this last year is that Above & Beyond have long considered themselves a band that writes songs instead of DJs that play music. Tony McGuinness explains that deejaying has simply been the way that they’ve chosen to play live and that’s been mostly for practical and financial reasons. But last year they took a stab at turning their trance triad Above & Beyond into a band and then released a subsequent album calledAcoustic to critical acclaim.

It could have completely flopped since it’s hard to imagine that acoustic music would ever appeal to an audience that generally enjoys music above 130bpm, but after nearly 15 years of running their trance music label Anjunabeats and another 450 episodes of their Trance Around The World radio show alone, not to mention regularly performing in front crowds that have been known to top one million, what Above & Beyond found was that it exactly catered to their existing audience.

They already knew how much their fans liked to sing along to songs like Sun & Moon or On A Good Day during their DJ sets, and social media also made them increasingly aware of how much the lyrics meant to people. That, Tony says, was the endorsement they needed to take a leap of faith and present their songs in their rawest form – acoustically.

“At the centre of it are the songs we’ve written as Above & Beyond and OceanLab, so to give them wings and free them from the dance backing that people know was an amazingly liberating experience.”

Some people turned up to Above & Beyond shows at the Greek Theatre in LA last summer not having any idea what to expect, and after the group flipped their DJ sets into big acoustic gigs they said fans left having completely loved the experience. “Our DJ sets are not a race through the Beatport Top 10 but are an amalgam of new Anjunabeats music and Above & Beyond songs they know and love, both old and new, so playing those songs in a more intimate environment just makes for a more concentrated, emotional, sing along experience.”

The process to present their music like this was entirely different however and they needed to work like a band and not like DJs. They needed their songs rearranged and to hone their parts so they could fit seamlessly into a 15-piece band. “You have to learn when to play, learn what to play, and learn when to shut up. That’s the biggest change from being in control in the studio, when you, and the mouse, are in charge of everything.”

Perhaps it wasn’t all that surprising that they did this. They’re always changing the style in which they present their same songs, says Tony. In fact, he says some purists think they’ve changed too much but he argues that they’re just looking at the wrong part of the sandwich and their songs and music are very similar in intent.

He elaborates on how songs have always been at the core of Above & Beyond but as they grow and evolve as a group and so does their audience, they simply respond to it. For example he feels that music in general has gotten a lot slower and while the music they made 15 years ago was 138-140bpm, now they make it 128-130bpm. But it’s still the same style of music.

It’s a modern form of trance, as he puts it, that has elements of house, electro, and techno but with the core musical ambition and emotional effect that trance is known for.

But to others the term trance has become subjective as genre descriptions have become increasingly hazy over the years. It’s certainly become harder to define music and the once all-encompassing term electronic dance music, a phrase that Tony enjoys but says has become misconstrued since EDM has a different meaning entirely.

He doesn’t care much for labels anyway as he says they seem to be less and less able to define anything meaningful. “Sasha used to make progressive house but now he supposedly makes deep house but I don’t think he’s changed that much."

While the argument for consistency is strong, one thing that has definitely changed for Above & Beyond however is the way electronic dance music has been able to reach the world from when they started until now. Then, they were lucky to be from the UK where Tony says they were ahead of the curve in some respects and experienced the peak of “first time through” house music.

“Now we see things globally and so for every scene that’s maybe post-peak there are three more places still rising, and for everyone joining in for the first time there is the same surprise and wonder we all experienced back then.”

Mixmag Asia talked to Above & Beyond as they prepared for their mini tour of Asia this fall and while some people might be surprised to know what a big reach the group have there, Above & Beyond actually think that Asia might even be ahead of the game. Tony feels that some crowds in Asia, like at Zouk in Singapore, have always struck him as being the most educated and sophisticated that they’ve experienced. He also credited Thailand’s full moon parties and Bangkok’s progressive club scene as being ahead of the curve.

Beyond that, Above & Beyond have also got a new album in the works except this time they’re back in the studio. They say it will include recent singles Sticky Fingers, Hello and Blue Sky Action, plus some wonderful songs from long time collaborators Zoe Johnston and Justine Suissa, and some other surprises. But, even though they’re back in the studio Tony assures that they have every intention of responding to the huge demand to do some more acoustic shows. Apart from that they have no idea, but we can be sure it will somehow involve delivering the same music we know and love in yet another novel way.