ATLYS and composers Andrew Vogt, Ari Fisher shed light on the making of Seven Lions’ ‘Opus’ [Q&A]250732230 254498813321846 3670560681050662787 N

ATLYS and composers Andrew Vogt, Ari Fisher shed light on the making of Seven Lions’ ‘Opus’ [Q&A]

On July 28, 2021, Seven Lions was set to take the stage at Red Rocks Amphitheater for Higher Love with special guest Andrew Bayer and MitiS and Gem + Tauri as support. ATLYS, a string quartet comprising Jinty McTavish, Sabrina Tabby, Genevieve Tabby, and Rita Andrade took the stage, assumed their positions, and started playing. They weren’t on the Higher Love poster and at first, nobody knew what to expect. But it didn’t take long to find out. The chords that came from their instruments were immediately identifiable as those belonging to some of Seven Lions’ time-tested classics, translated to the strings. What happened from that point on was “pure exhilaration and joy” according to ATLYS. The crowd shared in this sentiment and sang along.

ATLYS went on to make another appearance at Seven Lions’ Chronicles III at The Gorge in Washington, where their performance was met with equal excitement. The performances gave resolve to Seven Lions and his Ophelia Records team: they knew that continuing to give life to the strings-led project was worthwhile. What came next was Opus, a full-length album of eight Seven Lions productions all written, performed, and recorded on the strings and eventually released in December 2021. It was the cherry atop a banner year for our Label of the Year.

Conversion to the strings is no small feat, but with the help of the sonic forces behind ATLYS, as well as composers Andrew Vogt and Ari Fisher, Opus came to life not only on stage but also on streaming platforms. In an exclusive interview with Dancing Astronaut, ATLYS, Vogt, and Fisher discuss the making of Opus. Read the Q&A below.


For the listeners who are not familiar with your work, who are you?

ATLYS: “ATLYS is a lady-powered crossover string quartet that plays music from all different kinds of genres and cultures. We perform a unique repertoire, all of which has been written by or specifically for us. There are four of us: Jinty McTavish and Sabrina Tabby on violin, Rita Andrade on viola, and Genevieve Tabby on cello. We formed just over six years ago after being inspired by our work with Yo Yo Ma in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago to think outside of the box and create music that was relatable to all kinds of people.”

Andrew Vogt: I am primarily a bass player in Chicago, but I also do a lot of composition and arranging for multiple different groups.

Ari Fisher: I’m a composer and violinist. And that’s what I do; I write music and I arrange music. I orchestrate music. It’s what I do. It’s my life, it’s my profession, and I love it.

How did you first get involved with the Opus project?

ATLYS: “In modern times where there are now an infinite number of ways to connect and meet new people across the world, we are ever grateful that the virtual odds were in our favor and led us to connect with someone as incredible as Seven Lions and his team. Sometimes, social media feels so vast and daunting that making real connections on it can seem farfetched. However, we are surprised every day by the beautiful connections that we’ve made through social media.

Our collaborations with Seven Lions surely helped solidify our belief that these platforms can be a beautiful means for working with people you might not have otherwise had the chance to! It really came down to the simplicity of a contractor finding us on Instagram and referring the quartet to one of his friends, who is on the administration of the Seven Lions team. We have not met this person, but we will be thankful for the connection for the rest of our lives!”

Andrew Vogt: “I’ve worked with ATLYS a lot in the past; for the past four years or so, we’ve been working together. They’ll call me for different commissions or arrangements and stuff like that. I’ve done some stuff with them on Spotify. I’ve written some stuff of my own that I’ve called them for. That’s actually how we first met and got started and everything. I wrote a bunch of music, and they were the first people ever recommended to me. So it’s been a great partnership and I feel like each year they just keep getting cooler and cooler gigs and now, it’s blowing up into this.”

Ari Fisher: “ATLYS reached out to two of their most frequent collaborator composers, Andrew and I, and we were like, ‘heck yeah!’ You know, we’ve never done anything like this. The crossover of classical and dance music is a challenge, and we’ll do it because it’s fun.”

What was the creative process behind Opus like?

ATLYS: “We all started by getting very familiar with all nuances and peculiarities of the originals. As soon as we got the fully fledged scores from Andrew and Ari, our job was to breathe life into them! That meant to drill and master the immense technical difficulty of the pieces (boy, these two composers had no mercy!) by playing through the gnarly passages super slowly and then building up the tempo little by little. But then, more importantly, it meant experimenting with all the different colors a string instrument can achieve to find and capture the vast emotional spectrum of each song.”

Andrew Vogt: “Ari writes it all out by hand. I’m more of the opposite; I do more of the computer side of things. All of the songs have different styles. None of the four that I did were similar by any means. You have “The Blood” and then you have “Dreamin,'” which is like total wedding material. There was so much to work with and each song had its different world that it lived in. For “The Blood” in particular, I tried to work at night or whenever it was dark out and I would keep the lights off and be really gothic about it, even though I’m not at all. But I was immediately like, okay, this is this is the direction this one’s going in, so I tried to keep myself in that headspace.”

Ari Fisher: “I would listen to the tracks countless times until they were ingrained in me, until I knew the songs inside and out, like the back of my hand. And then after that, I would sit down with a sheet of square paper and write out exactly what was in the original: all the different textures, all the different sounds, the different synth lines, everything, the glitch noises, the melodies, and the drafts. Nothing was left out in terms of detail, and I would call that my reference sheet, and that had everything that I could possibly hear from the original. From there, I was able to choose certain elements that I wanted to keep (and there were a lot of them), but I also wanted to put myself in it too in terms of my harmonic voice and my compositional style. It was a beautiful marriage and balancing act that wasn’t too difficult. It was a lot of fun, actually.”

Please describe the process of recording Opus.

ATLYS: “Most of the challenges of recording weren’t anything new to us. Recording, unlike a live performance, carries the pressure that it will be crystallized forever! So you desperately want everything to be absolutely perfect, though that of course does not exist! We had so much trouble grappling with that. And when you have four human beings in the mix, on each take, you can expect one person to feel happy with the way that they played and one person to be bummed. Of course, the pressures or time and finances again limited us to only three days to record everything. We were so lucky to have found the most awesome recording engineers in Seattle, Andrew Ching and Jack Bertocchini at Studio X, who worked with us for 14 hours each day!

We spent usually about eight hours tracking and then five hours listening through to do our best in choosing our favorite takes (which always feels like a compromise!). We are also so grateful to have had one of our arrangers Ari Fisher there the whole time to help sort through takes and be a more non-partisan listener. It was madness, but also just the most fun hangout fueled by the excitement that more people were going to get to hear this music! Those days will remain cherished memories for us.”

What were some of the difficulties in translating dance music to a string quartet?

Andrew Vogt: “A lot of the completely quantized stuff that’s totally made in a computer doesn’t translate over the easiest to a quartet, because they’re not playing to a click. So time is going to be a little bit more free-form. Obviously, ATLYS have great time and they play together so nicely. But after a while, when you’re playing live and there’s no drum machine underneath, you’re going ‘where’s the beat?’ So it was a big challenge for me to be able to be like, ‘okay, we can only do this for a certain amount of time and then we have to throw it over to another instrument, or we have to put in the cello or we have to go somewhere else with it,’ because if you start doing it too much, then all of a sudden you kind of lose track of time. So that was a big thing, the super rhythmic aspect of things.”

ATLYS: “This project from the beginning was so darn exciting to us that any of the challenges we faced were met with nothing but sheer enthusiasm! The first challenge for the arrangers was the attempt to capture the immensity of these songs that use subwoofers and all kinds of artificial sounds and get our unplugged, centuries-old, acoustic instruments to match that power—but my, oh my, did Andrew Vogt and Ari Fisher rise to the challenge!

Ari Fisher: “I think the challenge was not so much in making it classical but in retaining the dance effects, the dance feel, and the intensity, and drive, the rise and drops, the glitch noises. Seeing how I can translate those as opposed to just leaving them out and making something kind of pretty over it. I wanted to keep that edge, and I think that’s what made it so much fun.

What was it like preparing for the show at Red Rocks?

ATLYS: “Fun fact about ATLYS: we do not live in the same city, not even the same state. Nevertheless, when it comes to cultivating string quartet music, it’s the interaction of all four parts that is crucial. Individual preparation is key, but that alone a stellar performance does not make. The busy lives we all individually lead and the quick turnaround of this project meant that we were only able to set aside and finance one full day together before the first performance in front of 9,000 people to get comfortable with all of this new music. That’s insanity! But thanks to modern recording technology, we were actually able to start rehearsing each song together in the few weeks before the concert.

We each recorded our individual lines (occasionally sending a video or two) and layered each part in one by one to hear and match the way we were each shaping and tuning each phrase, not to mention how we were approaching the less ‘traditional’ dance techniques that were presented in these arrangements. If there were any disagreements, we could discuss them and find solutions and compromises.”

Andrew Vogt: “I didn’t hear Ari’s arrangements until they had a rehearsal at the hotel in Colorado, and that’s when we first met Jeff and everything. And it was a cool experience. We’re all in the hotel room and they’re playing these things for the first time. I’m hearing his arrangements for the first time. He’s hearing mine for the first time, and so is Jeff (Seven Lions). And so we’re all just kind of in the room like, wow, this is the first time any of us were able to hear what was going on because the process was so ‘alright, let’s get it done.’ And I really, really loved that about this project. It forced you to get it done because the deadline was here and the show is happening.

Also Jeff is a very, very serious dude when he is listening. So Ari and I were kind of sitting here and looking over our shoulder, trying to get an eye on him because he was very hard to read and we weren’t sure if he liked it or not. But obviously it all worked out great! He loved it, and it was so nice to meet him and hang out with him for a little bit as well.”

What was it like to experience your project come to life live at Red Rocks?

Andrew Vogt: “Total bucket list. It was just really incredible to be there. I’ve never even been to Colorado before, so that was just a totally, totally awesome experience.”

Ari Fisher: “It was a very, very important thing that I had to be there to witness and be a part of it from all aspects. To experience it and to support my fellow musicians and friends and make new friends. It was something that I wanted to experience and be a part of.”

ATLYS: “Before our performance there with Seven Lions, we had no idea just how invigorated we would feel by simply walking the grounds where so many legendary musicians have performed. Unsurprisingly, we all had our fair share of butterflies before the show began. This was by far the largest crowd we’ve ever been lucky enough to perform for as a quartet! As the night carried on, the nervous energy morphed into pure exhilaration and joy. There were moments where we had to contain our emotions for how grateful we were to be there. As classically trained musicians venturing into all the genres that we can, this experience was more than we could have ever dreamed of!”

Andrew Vogt: “Once ATLYS started performing, it was really neat. Especially with arrangements, you have to make sure that you can still distinguish the original song, especially in instrumental arrangement where nobody’s singing and nobody knows the words. It’s like, this could be anything, really. So you really have to grab these certain key elements from the song, like melodies that are sung, or whatever you really think is going to stand out, and that’s the true test of a good arrangement—if somebody is going to start singing along. And sure enough, like with the first song, people started singing along when the chorus hit. And even before that, the real super fans were singing the first verse and knew all the words. Immediately, the crowd just started singing over the chorus. I thought to myself, ‘okay, this is working! This is happening.’

Each time that ATLYS came back out to perform in between sets, the crowd got more and more into it. It was just fantastic. And it’s so great because I’ve known all the girls for such a long time. It’s so great to see success happening for them and to see them get that recognition. So yeah, it was just a great experience.”

Ari Fisher: “There’s nothing like hearing like a crowd of 9,000-plus people just singing along to something you’re a part of. I’m glad I went and got to experience all of it. And if I could do it again, I would do so a thousand times over.”

Why do you think it is rarer to see dance music performed like this?

ATLYS: “It takes risks from any artist to try something different, but it was such an awesome move on Seven Lions’ part to think about taking this modern sound and bringing it back to traditional roots. It takes a lot of skill and time from composers to re-arrange a piece and write down music on paper. Then, you have to find the right musicians to bring those arrangements to life, to perform in concert in front of thousands of dance fans and deliver! I do have to say, there’s probably a lot of points at which this plan could’ve backfired, but it didn’t! We all stayed true to making this collaboration successful and revolutionary, and now, it’s something I wish more and that there was more music like this out there!”

Do you think we’ll see more projects like this in the future?

ATLYS: “I think it will only continue to evolve! When we began this journey with Seven Lions, we were told all about Above & Beyond’s stunning, ground-shattering acoustic performance at the Hollywood Bowl, which we’ve since listened to and love! Although their interpretation brought dance into the orchestral realm, our performance on Opus has almost tried to do the opposite and bring the string quartet into the dance realm. We’ve adapted to and have tried to capture the intensity of every sound effect, drop, and buildup riser on our centuries-old instruments. I can’t wait to see what comes next interpretation-wise! And we are so excited to see how our relationship with Seven Lions and Ophelia continues. We would be so honored and excited to be a part of his Red Rocks performances in the future!”

Do you have any other fun tidbits to add?

Andrew Vogt: “One of the most fun parts about the project was doing all the sweet sound effects. My favorite one was ‘The Blood.’ There are just so many weird little things coming in and out of that song, so just being able to grab those and go ‘okay, I’ve got this big slide going on, I’m going to make the cello just slide and go all the way up without any frets or anything like that.’ And you’ve got weird handclaps and on that one, I’ve got people smacking the side of their instruments and hitting the back of their bows on the instruments and stuff like that. So that was a blast for me because that’s kind of the stuff that you always want to do, but you’re never allowed to.”

Ari Fisher: “There are two tracks that you hear stomping in. One of them is ‘Only Now’ and the other is ‘Ocean.’ At the recording session, I thought it would be a fun way to have Jeff be a part of the album. So I had him, the recording engineer, and ATLYS, and even Trivecta showed up, and all of us were stopping. So Jeff is part of the album and so is Trivecta.”

What was your favorite part of this whole experience?

ATLYS: “It’s hard to choose just one! But we talked amongst ourselves and there were three big moments that stood out. The first was that it was a beautiful creative process for us to study Seven Lions’ music and interpret those sonic electronic sounds for our instruments and our own traditional sound! It was so fun!

Another favorite part of this journey was our time in Seattle at the beautiful Studio X, recording this full album in the short span of three days! These were LONG, LONG days, but we bunkered down and got it done, built even deeper connections between each other, and still had lots of laughs throughout it all.

Last, but not least, we enjoyed getting to play and engage with the thousands of fans in live performance. So many people were singing together and loving the music and being present all in that moment together, there’s absolutely nothing like it. These are memories we will never forget, that’s for sure!”

Featured image: Tariq Abdel Photo

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