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Brianne JasminAeria
croonswith Pentatonix about their number one passion.
Pentatonix And Their Special
Brand of Music
Inharmony
An all-American
a cappella
group, Pen-
tatonix began with three friends, Kirstin
“Kirstie” Maldonado, Mitch Grassi and
Scott Hoying, who joined a competition
to meet the cast of
Glee
. Although they
did not win, their version of
Telephone
caused a storm on YouTube and around
their school. Averil “Avi” Kaplan and Kevin
Olusola were soon recruited to the group.
Pentatonix, known for their cover versions
of existing songs, pick numbers that
inspire them and fire up their audience.
Why did you guys decide to form an
a
cappella
group?
We all come from musical backgrounds,
mostly choral, so we all love and ap-
preciate the human voice as a figuratively
limitless instrument.
You’verecordedquitealotofcoverversions.
Howdoyoudecidewhichsongstorework?
We pick songs that inspire us, and songs
that people really love. A member will
bring a particular song to the group and if
the group thinks we would cover it well,
we get to work!
Whodoesthevocalarrangementsforevery
song? Is it agroupeffort?
Most of the time, it is a group effort. Our
album arrangements tend to get a little
complicated, so we work with one of our
producers and good friends, Ben Bram.
He’s incredible.
Your latestEP,Vol. III containssevensongs.
Howhas the responsebeen so far?
So far, it’s been really great! Our fans
are starting to really enjoy our original
material, which is what we wanted. We’re
working on creating our very own original
style, so I’m glad we’re on the right path.
ArethereanyoriginalnumbersonVol. IIIand
who composed them?
Yes,
On My Way Home, See Through
, and
Standing By
. The first two were composed by songwriters brought to us by the label,
and the latter was composed by our bass, Avi.
How isVol. III different fromyour previous studio albums?
We’ve started working with a sort of “world” sound, I suppose you could say. A bit
tribal, chanty, and huge.
Howlongdidyoutaketoput thealbumtogetherandhowinvolvedwasthegroup inwhole
process?
We began writing and arranging for it at the beginning of 2014, so I suppose technically
it took us around five months or so to complete. Yes, we were all heavily involved in
the production of the album.