The debut album Aurum from Durban-based EDM Pop quartet Always Us was released on Friday 24 February 2023. The band have been hard at work the past year.
They meticulously self-produced this 8-track album, as well as 3 music videos. The dynamic band aims to bring their unique sound and high production value to all platforms, stating that the “fast pace, high energy, raw emotion, fat mix, and tight production equals Aurum!”
Tanner Kelly-Stack from Always Us shares some insight about Aurum
“The making of Aurum was so organic that it didn’t really feel like we were searching for inspiration or lacking ideas at any point of the process. We are all so different in terms of the creative skills that we bring to the table, but our combined ENERGY is just so productive and that it’s easy to find that artistic middle ground where we can all agree on a specific sound or vision for a project.”
“The making of ‘Aurum’ took us probably less than a year in total, from writing to making the music to filming the videos and all the social content that goes with being a band during this tech revolution. It was all so organic that the pieces just seemed to fall together, not without a lot of hard work and late nights though.”
“Wanine and I wrote most of our lyrics apart but somehow, we seemed to end up writing about the same experiences or sentiments that we could share.”
“Most of the music was written digitally and then recorded live. It’s important to us that we make a statement with our live performance, so we were very conscious of not over writing the music to the point that we become ‘instrument-locked’ on stage. I know personally I want to be able to dance like a nutter and jump around while we’re performing, and I hope that our audiences listening do as well!”
“The inspiration behind a lot of the lyrics I wrote for ‘Aurum’ came from past relationships or experiences that I had been through. I was going through a period of feeling frustrated and inferior and these lyrics were a way for me to gain closure and deal with feelings of toxic self-deprecation and doubt.”
“Writing has always helped me compartmentalise my feelings and It was really easy for me to work through any creative blocks along the way when I started to visualise each song on the album as separate conversations taking place between myself and Wanine.”
“I used this to try create a sense of dialogue between us. When we were making the videos, this really helped both of us when it came time to put our camera faces on, but sometimes we ended up getting too into it and it felt like we were literally re-living past arguments and yelling at each other and getting all these unspoken resentments off our chests! Not lekker! Luckily Matt and Dan were on hand to stop us from ripping out each other’s throats…”
“We’ve already been through so much and seen so many changes that it feels like we can pretty much roll with whatever punches come our way. We’re all so comfortable with each other’s abilities as multi-instrumentalists that for instance Dan can go from playing bass one week to guitar the next and drums the week after and the rest of us would be able to pick up the other’s instruments and still play our parts.”
Matthew Andre from Always Us comments on Aurum
“Fast pace, high energy, raw emotion, a fat mix, and a tight production equals Aurum. A glorious album”
“Great fun to work on, even more fun to listen too”
Wanine Zovitzkey from Always Us comments on Aurum
“This entire project started quite unexpectedly and evolved extremely naturally. Everything just kind of fell into place and I honestly feel like this was meant to be.”
“The amount of fun that we had in creating Aurum and the amount of fun we still have is insane. I cannot believe that I get to do this and be part of such an amazing project working alongside such a wonderful group of people.”
“The songs are all extremely personal for me as the lyrics contain moments of my past. Most of the songs helped me process and get through some extremely difficult times.”
You probably don’t know much about Always Us, but today my aim is to change that…
10 Interesting Facts About Always Us
1. Always Us was formed during lockdown in 2021 and starting as a cover band. The members had a calling to write some original tracks that lead to the creation of the album Aurum.
2. All members in the band are multi-instrumentalists from Durban, South Africa.
3. The sound of Always Us is a blend of EDM, EMO Rock, Funk, and Blues. The live performances are structured like a DJ set where the music has a constant flow throughout the set.
4. All the music and music videos were recorded and produced by members of the band.
5. The album and song artwork were created using AI (Mid Journey).
6. The album title Aurum comes from the Latin word for ‘gold’. The abbreviation of Always Us is AU, which is the symbol for gold on the periodic table.
7. While shooting the music video for ‘Going Under’ Always Us discovered that Wanine did not do well underwater. It was also filmed in the middle of winter!
8. Always Us is made up of 4 members, Daniel Philogene, Wanine Zovitkzey, Matthew Andre and Tanner Kelly-Stack.
9. Wanine’s voice is loud … like really loud (summoning all the Hadedas in the nearby vicinity)!
10. Tanner’s lucky number is 13. He has also broken the same big toe at least 6 times, ouch!
Well, there you have it, 10 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About Always Us. I would like to thank the band for providing these facts and I wish them all of the best with their future musical endeavors.
Watch this space for updates in the Music category on Interesting Facts.
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