ATLYS and composers Andrew Vogt, Ari Fisher make clear the making of Seven Lions’ ‘Opus’ [Q&A] – Dancing Astronaut
by: Zach Salafia
Feb 14, 2022
On July 28, 2021, Seven Lions was set to take the stage at Purple Rocks Amphitheater for Larger Love with particular visitor Andrew Bayer and MitiS and Gem + Tauri as assist. ATLYS, a string quartet comprising Jinty McTavish, Sabrina Tabby, Genevieve Tabby, and Rita Andrade took the stage, assumed their positions, and began enjoying. They weren’t on the Larger Love poster and at first, no one knew what to anticipate. However it didn’t take lengthy to search out out. The chords that got here from their devices had been instantly identifiable as these belonging to a few of Seven Lions’ time-tested classics, translated to the strings. What occurred from that time on was “pure exhilaration and pleasure” in line with ATLYS. The group shared on this sentiment and sang alongside.
ATLYS went on to make one other look at Seven Lions’ Chronicles III at The Gorge in Washington, the place their efficiency was met with equal pleasure. The performances gave resolve to Seven Lions and his Ophelia Data workforce: they knew that persevering with to present life to the strings-led undertaking was worthwhile. What got here subsequent was Opus, a full-length album of eight Seven Lions productions all written, carried out, and recorded on the strings and ultimately launched in December 2021. It was the cherry atop a banner 12 months for our Label of the Yr.
Conversion to the strings is not any small feat, however with the assistance of the sonic forces behind ATLYS, in addition to composers Andrew Vogt and Ari Fisher, Opus got here to life not solely on stage but additionally on streaming platforms. In an unique interview with Dancing Astronaut, ATLYS, Vogt, and Fisher talk about the making of Opus. Learn the Q&A under.
For the listeners who will not be acquainted with your work, who’re you?
ATLYS: “ATLYS is a lady-powered crossover string quartet that performs music from all totally different sorts of genres and cultures. We carry out a singular repertoire, all of which has been written by or particularly for us. There are 4 of us: Jinty McTavish and Sabrina Tabby on violin, Rita Andrade on viola, and Genevieve Tabby on cello. We fashioned simply over six years in the past after being impressed by our work with Yo Yo Ma within the Civic Orchestra of Chicago to assume exterior of the field and create music that was relatable to every kind of individuals.”
Andrew Vogt: I’m primarily a bass participant in Chicago, however I additionally do lots of composition and arranging for a number of totally different teams.
Ari Fisher: I’m a composer and violinist. And that’s what I do; I write music and I organize music. I orchestrate music. It’s what I do. It’s my life, it’s my occupation, and I adore it.
How did you first become involved with the Opus undertaking?
ATLYS: “In fashionable instances the place there at the moment are an infinite variety of methods to attach and meet new folks the world over, we’re ever grateful that the digital odds had been in our favor and led us to attach with somebody as unbelievable as Seven Lions and his workforce. Typically, social media feels so huge and daunting that making actual connections on it may well appear farfetched. Nevertheless, we’re stunned on daily basis by the gorgeous connections that we’ve made by way of social media.
Our collaborations with Seven Lions absolutely helped solidify our perception that these platforms could be a stunning means for working with folks you may not have in any other case had the possibility to! It actually got here right down to the simplicity of a contractor discovering us on Instagram and referring the quartet to one among his pals, who’s on the administration of the Seven Lions workforce. Now we have not met this particular person, however we’ll be grateful for the connection for the remainder of our lives!”
Andrew Vogt: “I’ve labored with ATLYS lots prior to now; for the previous 4 years or so, we’ve been working collectively. They’ll name me for various commissions or preparations and stuff like that. I’ve performed some stuff with them on Spotify. I’ve written some stuff of my very own that I’ve known as them for. That’s truly how we first met and acquired began and every thing. I wrote a bunch of music, they usually had been the primary folks ever really useful to me. So it’s been an important partnership and I really feel like every year they only hold getting cooler and cooler gigs and now, it’s blowing up into this.”
Ari Fisher: “ATLYS reached out to 2 of their most frequent collaborator composers, Andrew and I, and we had been like, ‘heck yeah!’ , we’ve by no means performed something like this. The crossover of classical and dance music is a problem, and we’ll do it as a result of it’s enjoyable.”
What was the inventive course of behind Opus like?
ATLYS: “All of us began by getting very acquainted with all nuances and peculiarities of the originals. As quickly as we acquired the absolutely fledged scores from Andrew and Ari, our job was to breathe life into them! That meant to drill and grasp the immense technical issue of the items (boy, these two composers had no mercy!) by enjoying by way of the gnarly passages tremendous slowly after which build up the tempo little by little. However then, extra importantly, it meant experimenting with all of the totally different colours a string instrument can obtain to search out and seize the huge emotional spectrum of every track.”
Andrew Vogt: “Ari writes all of it out by hand. I’m extra of the alternative; I do extra of the pc aspect of issues. All the songs have totally different types. Not one of the 4 that I did had been related by any means. You have got “The Blood” after which you’ve got “Dreamin,’” which is like whole marriage ceremony materials. There was a lot to work with and every track had its totally different world that it lived in. For “The Blood” particularly, I attempted to work at evening or each time it was darkish out and I’d hold the lights off and be actually gothic about it, although I’m by no means. However I used to be instantly like, okay, that is that is the route this one’s entering into, so I attempted to maintain myself in that headspace.”
Ari Fisher: “I’d hearken to the tracks numerous instances till they had been ingrained in me, till I knew the songs in and out, just like the again of my hand. After which after that, I’d sit down with a sheet of sq. paper and write out precisely what was within the unique: all of the totally different textures, all of the totally different sounds, the totally different synth strains, every thing, the glitch noises, the melodies, and the drafts. Nothing was ignored by way of element, and I’d name that my reference sheet, and that had every thing that I may presumably hear from the unique. From there, I used to be ready to decide on sure parts that I needed to maintain (and there have been lots of them), however I additionally needed to place myself in it too by way of my harmonic voice and my compositional model. It was a wonderful marriage and balancing act that wasn’t too troublesome. It was lots of enjoyable, truly.”
Please describe the method of recording Opus.
ATLYS: “Many of the challenges of recording weren’t something new to us. Recording, in contrast to a stay efficiency, carries the strain that will probably be crystallized without end! So that you desperately need every thing to be completely good, although that in fact doesn’t exist! We had a lot hassle grappling with that. And when you’ve got 4 human beings within the combine, on every take, you may anticipate one particular person to really feel proud of the best way that they performed and one particular person to be bummed. In fact, the pressures or time and funds once more restricted us to solely three days to report every thing. We had been so fortunate to have discovered essentially the most superior recording engineers in Seattle, Andrew Ching and Jack Bertocchini at Studio X, who labored with us for 14 hours every day!
We spent often about eight hours monitoring after which 5 hours listening by way of to do our greatest in selecting our favourite takes (which all the time seems like a compromise!). We’re additionally so grateful to have had one among our arrangers Ari Fisher there the entire time to assist kind by way of takes and be a extra non-partisan listener. It was insanity, but additionally simply essentially the most enjoyable hangout fueled by the joy that extra folks had been going to get to listen to this music! These days will stay cherished reminiscences for us.”
What had been a few of the difficulties in translating dance music to a string quartet?
Andrew Vogt: “Plenty of the utterly quantized stuff that’s completely made in a pc doesn’t translate over the best to a quartet, as a result of they’re not enjoying to a click on. So time goes to be a little bit bit extra free-form. Clearly, ATLYS have nice time they usually play collectively so properly. However after some time, once you’re enjoying stay and there’s no drum machine beneath, you’re going ‘the place’s the beat?’ So it was an enormous problem for me to have the ability to be like, ‘okay, we will solely do that for a sure period of time after which now we have to throw it over to a different instrument, or now we have to place within the cello or now we have to go elsewhere with it,’ as a result of for those who begin doing it an excessive amount of, then unexpectedly you form of lose observe of time. In order that was an enormous factor, the tremendous rhythmic side of issues.”
ATLYS: “This undertaking from the start was so darn thrilling to us that any of the challenges we confronted had been met with nothing however sheer enthusiasm! The primary problem for the arrangers was the try to seize the immensity of those songs that use subwoofers and every kind of synthetic sounds and get our unplugged, centuries-old, acoustic devices to match that energy—however my, oh my, did Andrew Vogt and Ari Fisher rise to the problem!“
Ari Fisher: “I believe the problem was not a lot in making it classical however in retaining the dance results, the dance really feel, and the depth, and drive, the rise and drops, the glitch noises. Seeing how I can translate these versus simply leaving them out and making one thing form of fairly over it. I needed to maintain that edge, and I believe that’s what made it a lot enjoyable.
What was it like making ready for the present at Purple Rocks?
ATLYS: “Enjoyable reality about ATLYS: we don’t stay in the identical metropolis, not even the identical state. However, relating to cultivating string quartet music, it’s the interplay of all 4 elements that’s essential. Particular person preparation is vital, however that alone a stellar efficiency doesn’t make. The busy lives all of us individually lead and the fast turnaround of this undertaking meant that we had been solely capable of put aside and finance one full day collectively earlier than the primary efficiency in entrance of 9,000 folks to get snug with all of this new music. That’s madness! However due to fashionable recording expertise, we had been truly capable of begin rehearsing every track collectively within the few weeks earlier than the live performance.
We every recorded our particular person strains (sometimes sending a video or two) and layered every half in one after the other to listen to and match the best way we had been every shaping and tuning every phrase, to not point out how we had been approaching the much less ‘conventional’ dance methods that had been introduced in these preparations. If there have been any disagreements, we may talk about them and discover options and compromises.”
Andrew Vogt: “I didn’t hear Ari’s preparations till they’d a rehearsal on the resort in Colorado, and that’s once we first met Jeff and every thing. And it was a cool expertise. We’re all within the resort room they usually’re enjoying this stuff for the primary time. I’m listening to his preparations for the primary time. He’s listening to mine for the primary time, and so is Jeff (Seven Lions). And so we’re all simply form of within the room like, wow, that is the primary time any of us had been capable of hear what was happening as a result of the method was so ‘alright, let’s get it performed.’ And I actually, actually beloved that about this undertaking. It compelled you to get it performed as a result of the deadline was right here and the present is occurring.
Additionally Jeff is a really, very severe dude when he’s listening. So Ari and I had been form of sitting right here and looking out over our shoulder, attempting to get a watch on him as a result of he was very arduous to learn and we weren’t positive if he favored it or not. However clearly all of it labored out nice! He beloved it, and it was so good to fulfill him and hang around with him for a little bit bit as nicely.”
What was it prefer to expertise your undertaking come to life stay at Purple Rocks?
Andrew Vogt: “Complete bucket checklist. It was simply actually unbelievable to be there. I’ve by no means even been to Colorado earlier than, in order that was only a completely, completely superior expertise.”
Ari Fisher: “It was a really, crucial factor that I needed to be there to witness and be part of it from all points. To expertise it and to assist my fellow musicians and pals and make new pals. It was one thing that I needed to expertise and be part of.”
ATLYS: “Earlier than our efficiency there with Seven Lions, we had no concept simply how invigorated we might really feel by merely strolling the grounds the place so many legendary musicians have carried out. Unsurprisingly, all of us had our fair proportion of butterflies earlier than the present started. This was by far the most important crowd we’ve ever been fortunate sufficient to carry out for as a quartet! Because the evening carried on, the nervous vitality morphed into pure exhilaration and pleasure. There have been moments the place we needed to comprise our feelings for the way grateful we had been to be there. As classically educated musicians venturing into all of the genres that we will, this expertise was greater than we may have ever dreamed of!”
Andrew Vogt: “As soon as ATLYS began performing, it was actually neat. Particularly with preparations, it’s important to just be sure you can nonetheless distinguish the unique track, particularly in instrumental association the place no one’s singing and no one is aware of the phrases. It’s like, this could possibly be something, actually. So you actually should seize these sure key parts from the track, like melodies which are sung, or no matter you actually assume goes to face out, and that’s the true take a look at of a very good association—if any individual goes to begin singing alongside. And positive sufficient, like with the primary track, folks began singing alongside when the refrain hit. And even earlier than that, the actual tremendous followers had been singing the primary verse and knew all of the phrases. Instantly, the group simply began singing over the refrain. I assumed to myself, ‘okay, that is working! That is occurring.’
Every time that ATLYS got here again out to carry out in between units, the group acquired an increasing number of into it. It was simply incredible. And it’s so nice as a result of I’ve identified all the ladies for such a very long time. It’s so nice to see success occurring for them and to see them get that recognition. So yeah, it was only a nice expertise.”
Ari Fisher: “There’s nothing like listening to like a crowd of 9,000-plus folks simply singing alongside to one thing you’re part of. I’m glad I went and acquired to expertise all of it. And if I may do it once more, I’d accomplish that a thousand instances over.”
Why do you assume it’s rarer to see dance music carried out like this?
ATLYS: “It takes dangers from any artist to attempt one thing totally different, but it surely was such an superior transfer on Seven Lions’ half to consider taking this contemporary sound and bringing it again to conventional roots. It takes lots of ability and time from composers to re-arrange a chunk and write down music on paper. Then, it’s important to discover the correct musicians to carry these preparations to life, to carry out in live performance in entrance of 1000’s of dance followers and ship! I do should say, there’s in all probability lots of factors at which this plan may’ve backfired, but it surely didn’t! All of us stayed true to creating this collaboration profitable and revolutionary, and now, it’s one thing I want extra and that there was extra music like this on the market!”
Do you assume we’ll see extra tasks like this sooner or later?
ATLYS: “I believe it’s going to solely proceed to evolve! After we started this journey with Seven Lions, we had been instructed all about Above & Past’s beautiful, ground-shattering acoustic efficiency on the Hollywood Bowl, which we’ve since listened to and love! Though their interpretation introduced dance into the orchestral realm, our efficiency on Opus has virtually tried to do the alternative and produce the string quartet into the dance realm. We’ve tailored to and have tried to seize the depth of each sound impact, drop, and buildup riser on our centuries-old devices. I can’t wait to see what comes subsequent interpretation-wise! And we’re so excited to see how our relationship with Seven Lions and Ophelia continues. We might be so honored and excited to be part of his Purple Rocks performances sooner or later!”
Do you’ve got another enjoyable tidbits so as to add?
Andrew Vogt: “Some of the enjoyable elements in regards to the undertaking was doing all of the candy sound results. My favourite one was ‘The Blood.’ There are simply so many bizarre little issues coming out and in of that track, so simply with the ability to seize these and go ‘okay, I’ve acquired this huge slide happening, I’m going to make the cello simply slide and go all the best way up with none frets or something like that.’ And also you’ve acquired bizarre handclaps and on that one, I’ve acquired folks smacking the aspect of their devices and hitting the again of their bows on the devices and stuff like that. In order that was a blast for me as a result of that’s form of the stuff that you just all the time wish to do, however you’re by no means allowed to.”
Ari Fisher: “There are two tracks that you just hear stomping in. Certainly one of them is ‘Solely Now’ and the opposite is ‘Ocean.’ On the recording session, I assumed it might be a enjoyable technique to have Jeff be part of the album. So I had him, the recording engineer, and ATLYS, and even Trivecta confirmed up, and all of us had been stopping. So Jeff is a part of the album and so is Trivecta.”
What was your favourite a part of this entire expertise?
ATLYS: “It’s arduous to decide on only one! However we talked amongst ourselves and there have been three huge moments that stood out. The primary was that it was a wonderful inventive course of for us to review Seven Lions’ music and interpret these sonic digital sounds for our devices and our personal conventional sound! It was so enjoyable!
One other favourite a part of this journey was our time in Seattle on the stunning Studio X, recording this full album within the quick span of three days! These had been LONG, LONG days, however we bunkered down and acquired it performed, constructed even deeper connections between one another, and nonetheless had plenty of laughs all through all of it.
Final, however not least, we loved attending to play and have interaction with the 1000’s of followers in stay efficiency. So many individuals had been singing collectively and loving the music and being current all in that second collectively, there’s completely nothing prefer it. These are reminiscences we’ll always remember, that’s for positive!”
Featured picture: Tariq Abdel Picture
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