The Los Angeles-based a cappella quintet Sonos has few rules, but those it … Read Full Bio ↴The Los Angeles-based a cappella quintet Sonos has few rules, but those it abides by are ironclad.
“We do our best to defy stereotypes,” says Jessica Freedman. “The whole approach has been to distance ourselves from kitsch,” chimes in Ben McLain. “And we don’t go ‘dow,’” adds Rachel Bearer.
Dow?
“That’s one of the words vocal groups use to emulate an instrument, like a guitar, with a made-up syllable,” Freedman explains. “We steer clear of that in arrangements.”
With a cappella vocal groups proliferating madly on college campuses and infiltrating the mainstream via TV shows like Glee, Sonos couldn’t have emerged at a more propitious time. But the three women (Freedman, Bearer and Katharine Hoye) and three men (McLain, Chris Harrison and Paul Peglar) who produce its tapestry of tones are swimming against the tide of jukebox set lists, doo-wop inflections and collegiate shtick in their quest to take a cappella music to a new, more sensual, more musically adventurous destination.
They’ve already won plaudits from such tastemakers as Chris Douridas of L.A. bellwether station KCRW-FM, who praised Sonos’ “innovative vocal arrangements” and “inspired repertoire, supremely delivered.” “Prepare to be stunned,” advised the U.K. newspaper The Guardian, while Campus Circle lauded their “unaccompanied magnificence.” Beyond admiring the group’s sonic achievements, critics also noted its “sexual tension” (L.A. tastemaker outlet The Deli Magazine) and “sex appeal” (Pasadena Weekly).
On its debut album, SonoSings, the group combines a rich, classically choral sensibility with an ultra-modern repertoire and sonic toolkit. The result is a spellbinding fusion of ancient and contemporary sounds, as songs by the likes of Radiohead (“Everything in Its Right Place”), Sara Bareilles (an a cappella veteran herself, she joins Sonos for a rendition of her “Gravity”), Fleet Foxes (“White Winter Hymnal”), Bon Iver (“Stacks”), Rufus Wainwright (“Oh What a World”), Björk (“Joga”), Imogen Heap (“Come Here Boy”) and other cutting-edge creators are transformed into mesmerizing vehicles for voices only.
The only pre-existing pop megahit in the batch is “I Want You Back,” but the group’s moody, trip-hop rendition radically re-imagines the tune – bringing out the dark, despairing lyrics that were all but negated by the Jackson 5’s bouncy, bubblegum original. With the passing of Michael Jackson, the version serves as an emotional homage.
Harrison produced and mixed the disc (with Gabriel Mann and manager Hugo Vereker, who assembled the group, provided A&R direction on the album and dreamed up the stark reworking of “I Want You Back”); he also handled several arrangements.
“Chris is a freakin’ genius arranger,” enthuses Freedman, “but we all have experience arranging and writing music, and we bring so many diverse backgrounds to the table that we’re greater than the sum of our parts.” Indeed, Freedman, Bearer and Hoye all contributed sterling arrangements to SonoSings. Agrees McLain, “If any of us weren’t what we are, Sonos wouldn’t be Sonos.”
Performing “I Want You Back” and other songs live, Sonos further pushes the envelope with the judicious use of effects pedals, guided by resident “gearhead” Harrison. McLain, in addition to singing leads and harmonies, contributes beatboxing that’s looped into a panoply of polyrhythms. (He developed the latter skill while lying in bed in his small-town California home, listening to hip-hop station KMEL-FM; his first cassette, he volunteers, was Very Necessary by Salt-N-Pepa.) But that’s just the tip of the technological iceberg.
“We’re very comfortable performing purely acoustically,” explains England-born, L.A.-bred Hoye, who attended the famed Berklee School of Music before heading to UCLA, where she met her future co-harmonizers. “But in the studio and playing live with a sound system, we essentially make electronic vocal music. We think of our collection of pedals and loops as the seventh member of the group.”
“When we sing ‘I Want You Back,’ I use an octave pedal,” she adds, referring to a device that splits notes played or sung into two tones an octave apart. “That way, I get to fulfill my fantasy, as an alto, of singing bass. You can hear a bass part, but I’m the only one singing. It confuses people.”
That said, the electronics are a small part of the picture – the Sonos experience is first and foremost about how “You can go from nothing to something just by opening your mouth,” as Cleveland-born Cali transplant Peglar – whose stratospheric range is variously described as “rock tenor” and “ballsy falsetto” by his compatriots, and who’s been spotted playing keyboards on the aforementioned TV series Glee – puts it.
Like almost everything else about the group, its origin and development have been unconventional. “We sort of became a band backwards,” explains elder statesman Harrison. “We formed, rehearsed, made a record and then started performing live.”
The San Diego native – who grew up watching his dad playing in bluegrass bands – sang in the famed UCLA vocal ensemble known as Awaken A Cappella with Bareilles and fellow future Sonos members Freedman (who comes from Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Peglar. The latter two had attended high school in Santa Rosa with McLain.
Bearer – who grew up singing opera in Tulsa, Okla. (“the buckle of the Bible Belt”) – had been kept from pop music by her musical-purist parents, but says singing a cappella changed her life completely. She attended both UCLA and USC, and was a member of celebrated a cappella ensemble SoCal Vocals when she met Harrison, who invited her to audition for the group; after a mere five rehearsals, she flew to New York for a performance.
Rather than bang out the record over a few months, Sonos took its sweet time. “We recorded the Radiohead track nearly three years ago, and we added two new tracks the day before it was mastered,” Freedman reveals. “It spans our entire evolution as a group. We’ve really grown into our own sound and style.”
They performed their first gig at the Santa Rosa high school Freedman, McLain and Peglar had attended together. While their vocal mix clearly delighted the crowd, Peglar recalls, their visual presentation hadn’t yet evolved. “I watched a video of it and promptly deleted it,” he relates, “because it was not what we wanted to present to people.” Some seven months passed before their next show, however, and the group soon developed its signature presentational style – sleek, sexy and confrontational, with an air of mystery not often found in the a cappella world.
Perhaps the ensemble’s most revelatory live moment thus far came in the gorgeously austere confines of a 17th Century London church, where they sang for an audience of fans, friends and industry folk. Performing “White Winter Hymnal” and “Gravity,” particularly, in such a setting, Peglar remembers, “Was kind of a checkpoint, because it was the six of us and the audience, with nothing in the way. I’d never even been overseas, so just being in London was amazing; compounding that was making music with my friends in this incredible church.”
“There’s something organic and mysterious about singing a cappella,” Peglar continues. “It’s beautiful and intangible. It could’ve been centuries earlier with a piece of classical music, but we’re taking something from last year and making it just as haunting and interesting. I think that’s what’s most captivating about us.” Manager Vereker reports that the music-business types in attendance were stunned. “Almost every one of them came up to me afterward,” he says, “and told me they’d never seen anything like it in their lives.”
With its debut album complete at last, the group is prepared to bring its one-of-a-kind vocal blend to the world – and plans to pepper its tour schedule with venues like performing-arts centers, colleges and even living rooms. But whether they’re in a courtyard, a club or a concert hall, Sonos will always seek that intangible, mysterious, intimate fusion of timeless tones and modern meaning – with nary a “dow” to be heard.
Sonos performed on Season 3 of the NBC show "The Sing-Off" and they were eliminated in the 4th episode.
“We do our best to defy stereotypes,” says Jessica Freedman. “The whole approach has been to distance ourselves from kitsch,” chimes in Ben McLain. “And we don’t go ‘dow,’” adds Rachel Bearer.
Dow?
“That’s one of the words vocal groups use to emulate an instrument, like a guitar, with a made-up syllable,” Freedman explains. “We steer clear of that in arrangements.”
With a cappella vocal groups proliferating madly on college campuses and infiltrating the mainstream via TV shows like Glee, Sonos couldn’t have emerged at a more propitious time. But the three women (Freedman, Bearer and Katharine Hoye) and three men (McLain, Chris Harrison and Paul Peglar) who produce its tapestry of tones are swimming against the tide of jukebox set lists, doo-wop inflections and collegiate shtick in their quest to take a cappella music to a new, more sensual, more musically adventurous destination.
They’ve already won plaudits from such tastemakers as Chris Douridas of L.A. bellwether station KCRW-FM, who praised Sonos’ “innovative vocal arrangements” and “inspired repertoire, supremely delivered.” “Prepare to be stunned,” advised the U.K. newspaper The Guardian, while Campus Circle lauded their “unaccompanied magnificence.” Beyond admiring the group’s sonic achievements, critics also noted its “sexual tension” (L.A. tastemaker outlet The Deli Magazine) and “sex appeal” (Pasadena Weekly).
On its debut album, SonoSings, the group combines a rich, classically choral sensibility with an ultra-modern repertoire and sonic toolkit. The result is a spellbinding fusion of ancient and contemporary sounds, as songs by the likes of Radiohead (“Everything in Its Right Place”), Sara Bareilles (an a cappella veteran herself, she joins Sonos for a rendition of her “Gravity”), Fleet Foxes (“White Winter Hymnal”), Bon Iver (“Stacks”), Rufus Wainwright (“Oh What a World”), Björk (“Joga”), Imogen Heap (“Come Here Boy”) and other cutting-edge creators are transformed into mesmerizing vehicles for voices only.
The only pre-existing pop megahit in the batch is “I Want You Back,” but the group’s moody, trip-hop rendition radically re-imagines the tune – bringing out the dark, despairing lyrics that were all but negated by the Jackson 5’s bouncy, bubblegum original. With the passing of Michael Jackson, the version serves as an emotional homage.
Harrison produced and mixed the disc (with Gabriel Mann and manager Hugo Vereker, who assembled the group, provided A&R direction on the album and dreamed up the stark reworking of “I Want You Back”); he also handled several arrangements.
“Chris is a freakin’ genius arranger,” enthuses Freedman, “but we all have experience arranging and writing music, and we bring so many diverse backgrounds to the table that we’re greater than the sum of our parts.” Indeed, Freedman, Bearer and Hoye all contributed sterling arrangements to SonoSings. Agrees McLain, “If any of us weren’t what we are, Sonos wouldn’t be Sonos.”
Performing “I Want You Back” and other songs live, Sonos further pushes the envelope with the judicious use of effects pedals, guided by resident “gearhead” Harrison. McLain, in addition to singing leads and harmonies, contributes beatboxing that’s looped into a panoply of polyrhythms. (He developed the latter skill while lying in bed in his small-town California home, listening to hip-hop station KMEL-FM; his first cassette, he volunteers, was Very Necessary by Salt-N-Pepa.) But that’s just the tip of the technological iceberg.
“We’re very comfortable performing purely acoustically,” explains England-born, L.A.-bred Hoye, who attended the famed Berklee School of Music before heading to UCLA, where she met her future co-harmonizers. “But in the studio and playing live with a sound system, we essentially make electronic vocal music. We think of our collection of pedals and loops as the seventh member of the group.”
“When we sing ‘I Want You Back,’ I use an octave pedal,” she adds, referring to a device that splits notes played or sung into two tones an octave apart. “That way, I get to fulfill my fantasy, as an alto, of singing bass. You can hear a bass part, but I’m the only one singing. It confuses people.”
That said, the electronics are a small part of the picture – the Sonos experience is first and foremost about how “You can go from nothing to something just by opening your mouth,” as Cleveland-born Cali transplant Peglar – whose stratospheric range is variously described as “rock tenor” and “ballsy falsetto” by his compatriots, and who’s been spotted playing keyboards on the aforementioned TV series Glee – puts it.
Like almost everything else about the group, its origin and development have been unconventional. “We sort of became a band backwards,” explains elder statesman Harrison. “We formed, rehearsed, made a record and then started performing live.”
The San Diego native – who grew up watching his dad playing in bluegrass bands – sang in the famed UCLA vocal ensemble known as Awaken A Cappella with Bareilles and fellow future Sonos members Freedman (who comes from Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Peglar. The latter two had attended high school in Santa Rosa with McLain.
Bearer – who grew up singing opera in Tulsa, Okla. (“the buckle of the Bible Belt”) – had been kept from pop music by her musical-purist parents, but says singing a cappella changed her life completely. She attended both UCLA and USC, and was a member of celebrated a cappella ensemble SoCal Vocals when she met Harrison, who invited her to audition for the group; after a mere five rehearsals, she flew to New York for a performance.
Rather than bang out the record over a few months, Sonos took its sweet time. “We recorded the Radiohead track nearly three years ago, and we added two new tracks the day before it was mastered,” Freedman reveals. “It spans our entire evolution as a group. We’ve really grown into our own sound and style.”
They performed their first gig at the Santa Rosa high school Freedman, McLain and Peglar had attended together. While their vocal mix clearly delighted the crowd, Peglar recalls, their visual presentation hadn’t yet evolved. “I watched a video of it and promptly deleted it,” he relates, “because it was not what we wanted to present to people.” Some seven months passed before their next show, however, and the group soon developed its signature presentational style – sleek, sexy and confrontational, with an air of mystery not often found in the a cappella world.
Perhaps the ensemble’s most revelatory live moment thus far came in the gorgeously austere confines of a 17th Century London church, where they sang for an audience of fans, friends and industry folk. Performing “White Winter Hymnal” and “Gravity,” particularly, in such a setting, Peglar remembers, “Was kind of a checkpoint, because it was the six of us and the audience, with nothing in the way. I’d never even been overseas, so just being in London was amazing; compounding that was making music with my friends in this incredible church.”
“There’s something organic and mysterious about singing a cappella,” Peglar continues. “It’s beautiful and intangible. It could’ve been centuries earlier with a piece of classical music, but we’re taking something from last year and making it just as haunting and interesting. I think that’s what’s most captivating about us.” Manager Vereker reports that the music-business types in attendance were stunned. “Almost every one of them came up to me afterward,” he says, “and told me they’d never seen anything like it in their lives.”
With its debut album complete at last, the group is prepared to bring its one-of-a-kind vocal blend to the world – and plans to pepper its tour schedule with venues like performing-arts centers, colleges and even living rooms. But whether they’re in a courtyard, a club or a concert hall, Sonos will always seek that intangible, mysterious, intimate fusion of timeless tones and modern meaning – with nary a “dow” to be heard.
Sonos performed on Season 3 of the NBC show "The Sing-Off" and they were eliminated in the 4th episode.
Wicked Game
Sonos Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Wicked Game' by these artists:
1.11 The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
Above & Beyond The world is on fire Nobody can save me, but you It's…
Adam Gontier I have walked through the forest I have walked alone a…
aeseaes The world was on fire and no one could save…
Anton Ishutin World was on fire and no-one could save me but…
Anton Ishutin feat. Deniz Reno The world was on fire no one could save me but…
Aubrie Sellers World was on fire, no one could save me but…
B.A.G The world was on fire and no one could save…
B.O. diverses 営業中 Hey, move's in the light 使い過ぎてすり減ったスマイル 欲求に負けそうな spirit …
Betoko The world is on fire Nobody can save me, but you It's…
Betoko & Gemma Hayes The world is on fire Nobody can save me, but you It's…
Betoko feat. Gemma Hayes The world is on fire Nobody can save me, but you It's…
Betoko Gemma Hayes The world is on fire Nobody can save me, but you It's…
Betoko Vs Gemma Hayes The world is on fire and no one can save…
Betoko vs. Gemma Hayes The world is on fire Nobody can save me, but you It's…
Black The world was on fire and no one could save…
Bossasonic "Wicked Game" The world was on fire and no one could…
Busy Reno The world was on fire and no one could save…
Ces Indie Broke myself trying to fix you yea now I need fixing,…
Chloe Kohanski World was on fire and no one could save me…
Chris Isaac The world was on fire and no one could save…
Chris Isaak The world was on fire no-one could save me but…
Chris Isaak & Silvertone The world was on fire and no one could save…
Corneille Oh The world was on fire and no one could save…
Crossbreed The world was on fire and no one could save…
Cynthia Lin No, I don't want to fall in love (this girl…
Daisy Gray The world was on fire Noone could save me but you Strange…
Danielle Parente The world was on fire and no one could save…
Dean Dyson Wicked Game The world was on fire and No one could save…
DJ Lia feat. Nita The world was on fire and no one could save…
Emika What a wicked game you played to make me feel…
Emilie Simon The world was on fire and no one could save…
F.R.I.E.N.D.S A thousand memories about you in the red hour I left…
Fallulah The world was on fire and no one could save…
Gemma Hayes The world is on fire and no one can save…
Geneviève Leclerc The world was on fire and no one could save…
Gino Mor. Orchestra Senza di te non vedo più cieli blu Senza di te…
GRACE CARTER The world was on fire and no one could save…
H I M The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
Heather Nova The world was on fire and no one could save…
Her The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
HULA HI-FI The world was on fire and no one could save…
Il Divo Senza di te non vedo più cieli blu Senza di te…
Isaak The world was on fire and no one could save…
Jack Hawitt World was on fire and no one could save me…
Jamaican Reggae Cuts The world was on fire and no one could save…
James Vincent McMorrow World was on fire, no one could save me but…
Jannis Block The world was on fire and no one could save…
Karen Souza The world was on fire And no one can save me,…
Karizma Duo The world was on fire and no one could save…
Lauren Aquilina I guess my problem's always been Giving people everything An…
Lew Basso Somebody said they saw you The person you were kissing wasn'…
Lights of Euphoria The world was on fire and no one could save…
Love Songs Vol.1 The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
Lydia Ainsworth The world was on fire No one could save me but…
m.o.v.e 営業中 Hey, move's in the light 使い過ぎてすり減ったスマイル 欲求に負けそうな spirit …
MajorVoice The World Was On Fire And No-one Could Save Me…
Manta Ray The world was on fire No one could save me…
Marcus & Martinus The world was on fire and no one could save…
Mathieu Koss For once in my life My heart was an open book With…
Matt Shockley The world was on fire and no one could save…
Miriam Masala The world was on fire and no one could , Save…
Moushumi The world was on fire and no one could save…
Novaspace The world was on fire, no one could save me…
O FUTURE The world was on fire and no one could save…
Peter and Kerry The world was on fire and no One could save me…
Peter Jöback The world was on fire and no one could save…
Peter Jöback & Sia The world was on fire and no One could save me…
Peter Jöback The world was on fire and no one could save…
Phillip Phillips The world was on fire and no-one could save me,…
Pierre Rossouw The world was on fire and no one can save…
Portair The world was on fire and no one could save…
R.E.M. The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
R.O 営業中 Hey, move's in the light 使い過ぎてすり減ったスマイル 欲求に負けそうな spirit …
Raign The world was on fire and no-one could save me,…
Rebecca Ferguson The world was on fire and no one could save…
RUDENKO feat. ARITMIYA Listen, stop this wicked game Listen, stop this wicked game…
Run And Hide The world was on fire and no one could save…
Sons of Serendip The world was on fire No one could save me but…
Sophia Bel The world was on fire, no one could save me…
Stargate The world was on fire and no one could save…
Stone Sour feat. Johnny Depp The world was on fire and no-one could save me…
Talia Lahoud The world was on fire and no one could save…
Terry Ilous Wicked Games I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like…
The Power Electric Band The world was on fire and no one could save…
The Valentines The world was on fire, and no one could save…
The Voice 2017 Chloe Kohanski & Noah Mac World was on fire and no one could save me…
The Weeknd I left my girl back home I don't love her no…
Theory The world was on fire and no one could save…
Tula The world was on fire No one could save me but…
Ursine Vulpine The world was on fire and no one could save…
Various Artists I left my girl back home, I don't love her…
Vincent McMorrow World was on fire, no one could save me but…
Widowspeak The world was on fire and no one could save…
Y.V.E 48 営業中 Hey, move's in the light 使い過ぎてすり減ったスマイル 欲求に負けそうな spirit …
Yellow House Hold of my hand (My hand) Grabbing hold of my hand Grabbing…
Yola Recoba The world was on fire And no one could save me…
Zacas The world was on fire and no one could save…
ĦIM The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
Сериал Друзья - Chris Isaak The world was on fire and no one could save…
•HIM• The world was on fire, no-one could save me but…
♔ Chris Isaak The world was on fire and no one could save…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Sonos:
Ave Maria Ave Maria, gratia plena Ave ave dominus, tecum Santa Maria…
Bittersweet Out Of Line Raise your glasses Think of the times…
Come Here Boy It′s dark in here, visions are flashing into my head As…
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing Come thou fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing…
Coventry Carol Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child, By, by, lully, lullay…
Everything In Its Right Place Everything Everything Everything Everything In its right pl…
Gravity Something always brings me back to you. It never takes too…
Hold On I'm ready for you light I'm ready take control I'm ready you…
I Saw Three Ships I saw three ships come sailing in On Christmas Day, on…
I Want You Back I want you back, baby, come back to me I want…
Little Bird Of all the things I find in life No moments better…
O Holy Night O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining It is the…
Oh What A World Men reading fashion magazines Oh what a world It seems we li…
Re: Stacks This my excavation and today is kumran Everything that happe…
White Winter Hymnal I was following the, I was following the, I was following th…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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REINA REIGN
Will never forget when I heard
This arrangement. This will always be something special
Geoffrey Glenn
I gotta admit, with or without the pedals, this group was pretty good. Especially in the bass area. Great job, Chris!
By the way, 2:56 is when it gets REALLY good!
Brandon Molnar
this is an incredible recording and arrangement. Keep up the great work. Love to see more of this.
Jeffrey Dancinger
If they had a real bass singer they would have made top 3 on The Sing Off.
Shang Ferris
You guys are super! I can only say, thank you for posting and I hope to hear more of your music very soon!
Reaplw3
Still one of my go to arrangements, crazy that it's been 10 years
kishashante
This is amazing! I have honestly played this video about 50 times since i saw them sing this on the sing off!
Stewart Denny
Love this very well done !
Preston Steele
that was so amazing, as always. been a sonos fan since day one. go MCHS students!
Adrian Manchado
The new groove at 2:57 made me jump out of my chair! Awesome!