University of Oregon’s lone male a cappella group is back on your streaming services with their ninth album, “In the Groove.” Recorded throughout most of the 2022-23 academic year, each member of the group has put in an overwhelming amount of time and effort into this project, and that is evident in each song. I sat down with baritone and “Blu” soloist Aymeric Burthey, tenor and “Animal Spirits” soloist Adem Abdulhayoglu and tenor/baritone Jason Bube regarding all things “In the Groove.”
The album starts out with a one-two punch of Silk Sonic with “Silk Sonic Intro” and “Skate.” Both songs include features from Tony Castro and Raul Patel, with “Silk Sonic Intro” concluding with a smooth-talkin’ introduction to the album’s host, Neal Bryan. While these two songs couldn’t be more different, they contain a characteristic that immediately jumped out at me: the vocal percussion.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The percussion sounded so crisp and authentic that I genuinely believed it was real drum samples, but all of it comes from former On The Rocks vocal percussionist Miles Imai. Not only is Imai the vocal percussionist on all but one song, but many On The Rocks alumni believe Imai is the best vocal percussionist the group has ever had.
“He’s been super good since he was in middle school, I’ve heard,” Abdulhayoglu said. “We’ve talked to a fair amount of On The Rocks alumni who have experienced other vocal percussionists and they all think he’s the best one On The Rocks has ever had.”
On top of Imai, bass Connor Watrous plays an incredibly important role in the rhythm section of every song. Whenever you hear a shockingly low frequency sneaking through, particularly on the songs “Movement” and “Outer Space,” that would be Watrous.
“[Imai and Watrous] do kind of play off each other, both as the rhythm section and the lowest section, and oftentimes they’re doing the same thing,” Burthey said. “It’s an unbelievable pairing. We got incredibly lucky with both Miles and Connor.”
While each song features a soloist who fits the part like a glove, picking a soloist for each song can be a long, painstaking process. A group like On The Rocks is chock-full of great singers, so picking soloists is never a slight to the person who doesn’t get the part. It is more so about finding the right fit for the song based on the tone necessary.
“When we audition a soloist for a song, we ask who’s interested, they sing a section of the song, and we all vote with our heads down to keep it as unbiased as possible,” Bube said. “We choose a top 3, we send them out, and we all discuss why we want one person over the other. We’re not picking favorites. It’s about who fits this song best as a soloist.
You can hear throughout the record the litany of talented vocalists blessing our ears, and one song where this is especially apparent is “How Deep Is Your Love.” Admittedly, I am a sucker for any and all things Bee Gees, so I have some inherent bias toward this song. But I can’t deny how well-done this cover is. Soloist Justin Mouledous effortlessly transitions between a crisp falsetto and an airy baritone timbre, supported by a beautiful, harmonious backing vocal section. The Bee Gees are masters of feeling and sensation, but On The Rocks’ rendition of “How Deep Is Your Love” certainly holds a candle.
An important element of “In the Groove” that remains a constant throughout is the production. While production may not be an aspect of a cappella music that immediately comes to mind, the production on this album is top-notch. More often than not, finding good producers and then executing effective production is a difficult process, but On The Rocks has been lucky to be connected with two producers who have incredibly prestigious accolades.
Ed Boyer, who does their mixing, and Bill Hare, who does their mastering, are two Grammy-award winning producers. Boyer and Hare have worked with seemingly every big a cappella and choral group out there, including Pentatonix, The King’s Singers, Voces8 and even Glee. Their work with On The Rocks is nothing short of stunning.
What separates “In the Groove” from other On The Rocks albums is how personal each song is to different members. Burthey explains how different choosing songs for this album was than prior OTR album releases.
“For this one, we had meetings where we were like, ‘Bring two to three of your favorite songs and pitch them to us,’” Burthey said. “We never clarified that this album should be our favorite songs, but it kind of morphed into that. We chose not to be constricted by a certain theme, I suppose.” According to Abdulhayoglu, “In the Groove” is the first album in On The Rocks’ catalog to follow this method — all of their previous albums had a chosen theme prior to the song selection process.
Given how much love the members had for the songs before their inclusion on the album, it only makes sense how intricate each arrangement and performance is. Each solo is performed with vigor, the supporting vocals add charming harmonies and pizzazz and the bass and rhythm section round the sound out emphatically, all while having undeniable fun in the process. If you’re new to a cappella, “In the Groove” is one hell of a gateway.
