BY LISA MARIE BASILE
Sonophonix is a musical duo comprised of Pianist Deborah Robb and cellist Xue Yang Liu — both based in New York City. In their latest release, they conjure magic with a rich, intense, and sultry cover of Beyoncé’s Crazy In Love. (We also love Bey).
This isn’t your typical cover; it’s an artful display of talent, emotion, and reimagination — and its accompanying video is pure art. Hovering between a kind of melancholy and desirousness, this is a gift to us all. In a time of year during which we mourn and hope for change, their art makes our lives more beautiful, more meaningful, and more magical.
I chatted with the duo about their musical backgrounds, how they approached Crazy In Love, and why they think music is so important — especially right now.
“We were really inspired by the idea of Love. Right now, we feel strongly that this message is more important now more than ever. We hope to tap into people's emotions when they listen to our music, and we hope this music video can bring our audience to a place that is full of love.” — Sonophonix
LMB: Can you tell me about how you two started Sonophonix - and what is your vision for it as you move forward?
Sonophonix: We met while we were grad students at Mannes School of Music at The New School. We first became friends and played chamber music together and that was when we realized that we shared similarities in how we interpret and perform music.
While at Mannes, Xue and Deb performed together at Alice Tully Hall and subsequently at Carnegie Hall. After Mannes, Deb went on to work in music production and composition and Xue worked as a cellist, as well as a studio musician and writing string arrangements. We then got together after honing our skills and created Sonophonix! We felt a shared sense of a musical style and view.
Ultimately, we wanted to create our own sound and style.
“Our goal is for our listeners to listen to our music and create their own story without having it predetermined from lyrics. Our style is very atmospheric with a lot of depth creating a very cinematic sound. Our vision moving forward is to create music for film. We are currently working on our first studio album creating music based on and inspired by colors and what those colors can provoke.” — Sonophonix
Pianist Deborah Robb
What are your backgrounds in music? Tell us a bit more about who you are and what you’ve done, because you’ve both done a lot.
We both come from a very strong classical background.
Xue started her music journey at 4 years old, later on she attended Juilliard pre-college at age 16 and then continued her studies receiving a bachelor's degree in cello performance and continuing her studies at Mannes School of Music for professional studies and master. After Mannes , Xue frequently performed in NYC venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Rose Theatre — and she also wrote string arrangements for artists and did work as a studio musician as well.
Deb also started her musical journey at 4 and wrote her first piece at 5. She made her formal debut at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem Oregon at age 12. She then went on to get her Bachelor's and Masters degree in Piano Performance at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Mannes School of Music. She then went to immerse herself in music production where she learned to use various DAWs, produce and write music, working with top artists in NYC.
Xue Yang Liu, cellist
What inspired you to cover Crazy In Love?
There was something we really connected with the Crazy In Love rendition Beyonce did for the movie Fifty Shades of Grey. We felt we could really offer a different approach to the song through arrangement and production. Whether it is original music or covers, we love to play with different textures, effects, and melodies to create something with a lot of thought and depth to it. We were also really inspired by the idea of Love.
Right now, we feel strongly that this message is more important now more than ever. We hope to tap into people's emotions when they listen to our music, and we hope this music video can bring our audience to a place that is full of love.
Love was what inspired the video, too. Our Director Maria Bruun had a vision of having dancers involved in the video so they could express the emotions and passion along with our playing. Because there are no lyrics in our music, we both thought the instrumental and dancers were a perfect compliment to express deep emotions, and also create an intense and hauntingly beautiful love story between the two dancers.
We thought that it would be more striking in black and white. Portray intense love through dance. Instrumental and dance have that in common.
“Music transcends language, barriers, location. Music can touch the deepest parts of our soul and gives us comfort and solace. It is our most primal way of expression. It can heal and can absolutely bring us all together. “ — SONOPHONIX
What do you think the purpose of art and music is, especially in a world where we are divided by pandemic and political ideologies? Can music heal us and bring us together?
We believe music and art can bring people together. It doesn't matter where you are from in this world; people can always connect through music and art. Music transcends language, barriers, location. Music can touch the deepest parts of our soul and gives us comfort and solace. It is our most primal way of expression. It can heal and can absolutely bring us all together. A prime example of that is the team that we worked with on this video. Everyone was from a different background, different culture, different countries.
How can our readers follow you and support you?
Be sure to follow on our Instagram @Sonophonix and on our YouTube page. And if you wanna read more about us and listen to more our music, head to our website HERE.