Erasure have joined forces with the Belgian collective of post-classical musicians The Echo Collective for a new album World Beyond.
The album comes out on March 9, and is a reworking of Erasure’s 2017 LP World Be Gone, with the entire album re-interpreted through a post-classical lens.
Above you can watch a short film about the making of the album, which was recorded over ten days by Erausre’s Andy Bell and seven performers from the Echo Collective in Brussels last November.
The idea originally came from Bell’s bandmate Vince Clarke, who said: “It was great to talk through ideas with Echo Collective and then see how their arrangements took shape. The collaboration has given elements of the album a whole new feel and Andy’s vocals remain as powerful and uplifting as ever”
The Echo Collective are known for their ongoing collaborative work with the likes of A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Johann Johannsson and Dustin O’Halloran. Of the new record the collective’s Neil Leiter said: “The process of this project was really deconstruction and re-purposing. We started by listening to each track layer by layer, and then, using the layers that inspired us or we found essential, we reconstructed the tracks instrumentally.
“Each of the instruments in the band setup were chosen for their inherent capacities and roles. Often choosing which layer to put with each instrument was a question of matching roles and colours. By stripping so much away, we were able to find a new space for Andy to fill. The text of the songs became much more important in the overall construction of the songs, and Andy was free to explore more dynamics and vocal range.”
The album was produced by The Echo Collective, mixed by Gareth Jones and arranged by The Echo Collective’s Gary De Cart, Margaret Hermant and Neil Leiter.
