Above & Beyond release Always ahead of Common Ground

Above & Beyond have released ‘Always’, the third single from their forthcoming album ‘Common Ground’, through Anjunabeats.

‘Northern Soul’ was performed for the first time at ABGT 250 at The Gorge, and it marks Richard Bedford’s long-awaited return. The Common Ground tour is already well under way, and the itinerary takes in Philadelphia and Washington, DC before the trio headline an arena show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The album arrives on 26 January, thirteen tracks through the same imprint, which positions ‘Always’ a week ahead of it. The single is an entirely acoustic ballad; soft piano sits beneath a plainly delivered vocal, and the melody leans melancholy. The voice belongs to Zoë Johnston, a long-standing collaborator of the trio’s.

That partnership reaches back through the likes of ‘Love Is Not Enough’ and ‘We’re All We Need’, so you will recognise the voice already. She has become close to a permanent presence on an Above & Beyond record by now, and she appears twice more on the album (on ‘My Own Hymn’ and ‘Sahara Love’).

“The song acknowledges that those who are there for us no matter what still have the choice to walk away,” Johnston said. “They could choose to disappear, or backtrack on a commitment to love us, but the fact that they don’t is what makes their love evermore extraordinary and precious to us.”