Common Ground, the fourth studio album from Above & Beyond, is released today – Friday, January 26 – on the band’s own Anjunabeats imprint.
Common Ground kicks off in cinematic style with ‘The Inconsistency Principle’. Things then move to the dance floor with recent favorites ‘My Own Hymn’ and ‘Northern Soul’, debuted by Above & Beyond at their sold-out ABGT250 festival. OceanLab siren Justine Suissa shines on the groove-heavy ‘Naked’, while A&B mainstay Zoë Johnston lends her voice to the sun-soaked ‘Sahara Love’. ‘Happiness Amplified’ features a rapturous refrain delivered by the unmistakable voice of Richard Bedford, before a change in gear for the progressive ‘Is It Love? (1001)’. The slow-burning ‘Cold Feet’ is another poignant moment from Justine Suissa, with Marty Longstaff tackling the uncertainties of life in ‘Tightrope’. ‘Alright Now’ preaches perseverance in the toughest of times while ‘Bittersweet & Blue’ reflects on absence and abandonment. Stripping things back to the band’s instrumental core, the stunning ‘Always’ is an optimistic Zoë Johnston-led ballad. The title track, ‘Common Ground,’ premiered at Ultra Miami 2017, is a final, thought-provoking instrumental bookend to the journey.
The release of Common Ground coincides with a tour of the same name – A&B’s most ambitious North American tour to date. Presented by T-Mobile, the tour kicked off on December 29th at the Los Angeles Convention Center with the first full leg of the tour picking up this week. Highlights include stops at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, two nights at Rebel in Toronto, Chicago’s Navy Pier and two nights at San Francisco at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Also recently announced was Above & Beyond’s return to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on May 19 and a Miami Music Week show at The RC Cola Plant in Miami, Florida, with Seven Lions joining as the special guest. This is the final stop on the tour and will be one of the most memorable events during dance music’s signature week of the year.
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