ABOVE & BEYOND – Bigger Than All Of Us – 2LP – Gatefold Vinyl [SEP 26]

2LP – Standard Edition Black Vinyl housed in a Gatefold Sleeve.

This album is us appreciating how amazing this thing we have is. The realisation of how lucky we are that we get to be part of something like this for 25 years, and to have built a community that cares for each other in the way it does. Its not about any of us individually. When we all work together to make something happen, something bigger happens. – Jono, Paavo and Tony Above & Beyond.

If much of the mindset and mantra behind Above & Beyond over the last quarter of a century has been born from the idea of connection, then their fifth artist album Bigger Than All Of Us is best summed up in one word: reconnection.

Its been seven years since Jono Grant, Paavo Siljamki and Tony McGuinness released their fourth electronic album, Common Ground. A #3 on the Billboard charts an achievement that speaks to the British bands huge, arena-to-amphitheatre scale profile in America, a level of success replicated in pretty much every other corner of the world.

The time since has seen a series of projects come to life both collectively and individually: 2019s ambient, yoga-and-meditation-friendly album Flow State, streamed over 400 million times worldwide; a series of club ready instrumentals under the Tranquility Base moniker; radio records See The End, Over Now and Crazy Love.

In the meantime, the band embarked on personal projects outside of the Above & Beyond framework. Grant collaborated with long time friend Daren Tate on 2022s self-titled synthwave JODA album. In 2023 Siljamki, reprised his P.O.S alias, releasing dance floor focussed album Deeper Tales. Last year, McGuinness dug in his own crates for Salt, an album based on a studio-freshened selection of emotional singer-songwriter compositions originally written as the 90s rave and Britpop fever-dreams faded.

A worldwide touring schedule, their weekly Group Therapy radio show, and overseeing a family of iconic dance labels, Anjunabeats, Anjunadeep and, most recently, Anjunachill its never quiet in the world of Above & Beyond.

But its the spirit of music uniting us all championed through their studio albums Tri-State, Group Therapy, We Are All We Need and Common Ground that has been their most enduring appeal. Real life stories of hope, heartbreak and healing that bring together dance musics biggest global community.

There are songs on here that have stood the test of time in our little world and have had a new life breathed into them by the process that we’ve adopted. But they’re classic Above & Beyond songs, and I think they speak to the huge, worldwide effect that Above & Beyond has. A worldwide meaning. A worldwide connection.
– Above & Beyond

Tracklist:

Side A
1. Stepping In
2. Start A Fire – Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford
3. Carry Me Home – Above & Beyond with Zo Johnston
4. Everywhere I Go

Side B
1. When You Believe – Above & Beyond with Victoria Horn
2. Quicksand (Dont Go) – Above & Beyond with Zo Johnston
3. Bigger Than All Of Us – Above & Beyond with Justine Suissa
4. Blood From A Stone – Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford
5. Into The Light

Side C
1. Letting Go – Above & Beyond with Malou
2. Here Before – Above & Beyond with Oliver Smith and Opposite The Other
3. Sailing Off The End Of The World – Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford
4. Ride At Dawn – Above & Beyond with Zo Johnston

Side D
1. Heartland – Above & Beyond with Justine Suissa
2. ‘Til Im Home – Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford
3. Lullaby – Above & Beyond with Zo Johnston