Aivi & Surasshu (stylized as aivi & surasshu) are an electronic composer duo, composed of pianist Aivi Tran and electronic artist Steven "Surasshu" Velema. They are known for composing soundtracks, including that of Cartoon Network's animated series Steven Universe.[1] The two married in 2015.[2]
Aivi & Surasshu | |
|---|---|
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Labels | Materia Collective, Ubiktune, Infloresce |
| Members |
|
| Website | aivisura |
Career
editThe Black Box (2012–2013)
editAivi Tran and Steven Velema first met in person at GDC in 2012 (before GDC, they had interacted only on Twitter), and discussed the idea of a piano/chiptune hybrid project.[3]
Communicating after the convention, the two collaborated on an independent album project entitled The Black Box, and released on Ubiktune in 2013. The project was a combination of original piano and chiptune music, with several video game covers including "Lonely Rolling Star" from Katamari Damacy.[4] The album was positively received, with Kotaku describing it as "lush, melodic, and well put-together".[5]
Steven Universe (2013–2019)
editThe duo were suggested to creator Rebecca Sugar of the animated television series Steven Universe by storyboard artist Jeff Liu, shortly after the release of The Black Box, and were subsequently brought onto the project.[1] The duo made use of leitmotifs expressing each character's personality, which changes slightly depending on the situation.[6] The character Pearl was often accompanied by a piano, Garnet by a synth bass, Amethyst by drums, and Steven with chiptune tones. They worked with guitarist Stemage on some parts of the soundtrack, including the opening for the second season.[1]
The first volume of the Steven Universe soundtrack reached #22 on the Billboard 200.[7] A second volume followed in 2019, peaking at #28 on the Billboard 200, and #12 on the US iTunes chart.[8][9]
The Black Box (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2023)
editOn July 28, 2023, for the 10-year anniversary of their first album, the duo released the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Black Box. It includes 7 new tracks and had a limited run of vinyl, with a comic book to go alongside it.
Infloresce & Meanwhile (2022-Present)
editIn 2022, in an attempt to help support other composers and artists and create a community for personalized music, aivi founded Infloresce Records.[10] The label released their first album Infloresce Vol.1 - Floral Folklore featuring songs from artists signed to the label such as Lena Raine, telebasher, and miles morkri. Aivi & Surasshu composed, and performed the song "Mai and the Snake" for the album. In addition to their track on the album, surasshu mastered the album with aivi serving as album director.[11]
After 10 years of no new albums, except for the release of The Black Box (10th Anniversary Edition), in 2023 Aivi & Surasshu released their second full album, Meanwhile. Originally intended to be a sequel to The Black Box the album shifted to a reflection on the time spent in between the many events in their life since their last album.[12] The album was met with generally positive reviews, but received noticeably less attention than their previous work.
Other projects
editThe duo subsequently worked on numerous video game soundtracks including Soul Saga, Ikenfell,[13] Cryamore[14] and Way to the Woods,[15] as well as several interactive Google Doodles.[16]
References
edit- ^ a b c Thurm, Eric (January 15, 2016). "Dropping Gems: An Interview with the Composers of the Score for 'Steven Universe'". Noisey. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ "About". Surasshu.
- ^ surasshu (October 2, 2016). "r/stevenuniverse - We're aivi & surasshu, the music composers of Steven Universe. Ask us anything ♫". reddit. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ "aivi & surasshu - The Black Box". ubiktune.com. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ Hamilton, Kirk (November 3, 2013). "Acoustic Piano Meets Chiptunes, And It's Freakin' Lovely". Kotaku.
- ^ McDonnell, Chris (July 11, 2017). Steven Universe: Art & Origins. ABRAMS. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-1-68335-083-5. OCLC 1096293421.
- ^ "Top 200 Albums: Week of June 24, 2017". Billboard. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ "'Steven Universe, Vol. 2 (Original Soundtrack)' by Steven Universe (American Albums iTunes Chart)". iTunesCharts.net.
- ^ "Soundtrack Steven Universe, Volume 2 Chart History". Billboard.
- ^ "About – Infloresce Records". infloresce.com. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
- ^ "Infloresce Vol. 1 - Floral Folklore, by Infloresce Records". Infloresce Records. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
- ^ "Meanwhile, by aivi & surasshu". aivi & surasshu. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
- ^ tran, aivi (November 16, 2018). "Music by me & @surasshu/ Guitars performed by @Stemage/ Follow @ChevyRay for updates on Ikenfell".
- ^ Wejebe, Alyssa (August 29, 2019). "Steven Universe Composer Aivi Tran Talks About Creating Music for Games". Cliqist. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
- ^ Rizzo-Smith, Julian (June 24, 2019). "Meet The Young Aussie Behind The Most Beautiful Game Of E3". Junkee.
- ^ tran, aivi (June 13, 2018). "I'm working on @Cryamore, Ikenfell, and contributing to some other game soundtracks I also composed music for two Google Doodles games (Halloween 2015 and Olympics 2016) with my boy @surasshu".