The debut album Aurum from Durban-based fusion quartet Always Us has just been released.
As experienced Videographers and Multi-instrumentalists, Matthew Andre (Guitars), Wanine Zovitzkey (Vocals & Keys), Tanner Kelly-Stack (Vocals & Bass) and Daniel Philogene (Drums) have been hard at work the past year meticulously self-producing this 8-track album, as well as three music videos, that features a multi-genre mix of Funk, House, DnB and Rock influences.
The dynamic 4-piece 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!”
Watch the music video for Going Under here:
Aurum was made in 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. The pieces just seemed to fall together, not without a lot of hard work and late nights though. Most of the lyrics were written separately by Wanine and Tanner, but somehow, we seemed to end up writing about the same experiences or sentiments that could be shared.
The music was mostly written digitally and then recorded live. It was important to us that a statement was made with the live performance, so the team was very conscious of not overwriting the music to the point that they became ‘instrument-locked’ on stage. It is personally known that they want to be able to dance like a nutter and jump around while performing, and it is hoped that the audience listening does as well!
“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.” – Wanine Zovitzkey
A lot of the lyrics written for Aurum were inspired by past relationships or experiences that had been been been through. A period of feeling frustrated and inferior led to the creation of these lyrics as a way to gain closure and deal with feelings of toxic self-deprecation and doubt. Tanner says that the writing has always been helpful in compartmentalizing feelings and working through any creative blocks along the way.
Each song on the album was visualized as separate conversations taking place between myself and Wanine, creating a sense of dialogue between us. When the videos were being made, this really helped both of us when it came time to put our camera faces on. However, at times, it felt like we were literally re-living past arguments and yelling at each other and getting all these unspoken resentments off our chests. Fortunately, Matt and Dan were on hand to stop us from ripping each other’s throats out.
Aurum is available on all streaming platforms: https://hypeddit.com/alwaysus