Above & Beyond Announces The Launch Of Reflections, The Third Label Under The Anjuna Umbrella Alongside Anjunabeats And Anjunadeep

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above & beyond reflections

Reflections is the third label under the Anjuna umbrella, the company founded by two-time Grammy-nominated trio Above & Beyond in 2000 to release their music and home to two flagship labels, Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep.

Housing the South London-based organization’s ambient, downtempo and alternative catalog, Reflections is a fresh imprint that represents the “chill” arm of a suite of labels that are as prolific as they are successful.

Reflections was originally the title of a track on ‘Flow State’, Above & Beyond’s landmark 2019 album, a downtempo classic which emerged from a serendipitous sunrise yoga session on the Burning Man playa in 2014 and the band’s highest streaming album, with over 300 million streams.

In 2019, Reflections also gave a name to a new, hugely successful downtempo compilation series on Anjunadeep…the label launch is true to the backstory of the company.

Reflections launch with two tracks from Above & Beyond – ‘Morning In Deira / Time Heals’. The former was Above & Beyond’s opening track during their acclaimed January 2022 performance on the Rock of Guatapé at La Piedra del Peñol Guatapé in Colombia, for the live streaming platform Cercle. Not only was the rippling piano instrumental – a near-six-minute quiet-is-the-new-loud anthem – a freshly written composition from a beloved band with 2.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. It would also be the flagship song for a new venture under the Anjuna umbrella, the company founded by Above & Beyond in 2000 to release their music and home to two labels, Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep. Five months on, ‘Morning In Deira’, backed by another new Above & Beyond song ‘Time Heals’, is the launch release of Reflections. The songs deftly set the tone for this new, third label from the Anjuna family.

“Our two record labels, Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep were born on the dancefloor. For over 20 years these labels have taken us, our music, and our artists, to dancefloors across the world. The third Anjuna record label is our new downtempo and ambient imprint called Reflections, and we are delighted to share it with you. Reflections is born from all those moments in between the dancefloors – the mornings after, the nights apart, the journeys shared along the way. Those moments of Reflection.” – Above & Beyond

“This is a genre that we have a history in and one we belong in. If you look back on what we’ve done, on the Above & Beyond albums, there’s always been two or three standout downtempo tracks that have connected really well. Then, with everyone stuck at home, people had this sort of music on in the background while they were working. Mood listening became a really big thing. So lots of things conspired to make Reflections feel like a good idea at the right time. A lot of our artists just started naturally sending us this kind of stuff. Yotto, for example, wrote a chill-out album which he sent to us when we were already planning this label. His record ‘Erased Dreams’ is going to be the first album on Reflections.” – James Grant, co-founder of Involved Group.

Acknowledging the discussion of wellness and mental health, and the part music can play, Reflections’ Label Manager Penny Longstaff adds, “Alongside the music, we’ll be releasing, a lot of which is going to be conducive to sleeping, relaxing, and focusing. We’re also launching a host of curated mood-based mixes. That just opens up so many new avenues of who we can reach with the music.”

Longstaff, backed by Anjunadeep A&R Daniel Curpen, company Label Director Allan McGrath and Anjunadeep Label Manager Dom Donnelly, is intent on foregrounding fresh talent. Longstaff highlights Northling, a six-piece from near Blackpool “who are more an alternative indie-electronica-sounding band”. Their track ‘Damselfly’ sounds like the lost soundtrack to a Scandi noir TV drama that never was. Then there’s Jessie Marcella, whose piano and woodwind ‘Untitled 01’ is mantric mood music at its most warming. “And we’re working with a soundscape audiovisual artist called Lyndsie Alguire, who’s from Canada,” she adds of the ambient piano auteur.

Creatively, artistically, culturally, and globally: Reflections is the logical next step for the Anjuna world. While starting the label with two new tracks from Above & Beyond, as the company’s leading act, is the perfect launch statement, for both the trio and the label team, it’s what comes next that’s really exciting.

Read the full Reflections label bio here.

Akshay Bhanawat

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