Freedom’s Boombox releases jazzy EP

On July 29th, Freedom’s Boombox released their first EP, “Modern Vinyl.” The trio, made up of Richard Steighner, Christopher Diaz, and Alfredo Austin, made their mark with a cappella and jazz twists. They were formed after their former a cappella group, The Exchange, decided to take a hiatus. So why did I decide to listen to them?

I love a capella, jazz music, and pop songs. When I heard about the trio releasing an album, I could not resist freaking out. With only three people, the sound they produce is absolutely amazing. The sound was full, and it did not need any more additions.

The album includes seven songs, almost all of them popular singles from recent years. As I listened to the album, I fell more and more in love with the unique style they had.

Without a doubt, my favorite song on the album was “One Dance” originally recorded by Drake. Being a huge Drake fan, I was a bit skeptical on how they would cover it. But it was surprisingly amazing and well put together.

While I enjoyed the album, I wanted to know the inspiration for the album and the process behind it. So I took a chance and messaged the trio to see if I could get an interview from the group’s Facebook account.

The first thing I had to know was which song was the most fun to make.

“I think the answers are different for each guy, but I think we were all pretty happy doing ‘One Dance’,” the group said.

Next I asked about the EP making process and the inspiration they had for the album.
“The process is not too difficult,” the group confided. “We will usually record ourselves singing out the full arrangement and then we send it out to each other. If we have new ideas, we record a new arrangement or a new section, and then morph the multiple arrangements into one arrangement.

“The inspiration behind the album was to create a vibe that was authentic. The production is pretty simple and it stands out because a lot of groups use a lot of tracks and huge ‘walls of sound’ but our group is three people so we didn’t want to do too much of that. Also we wanted to do something that was different stylistically. Instead of doing straight ahead covers, we took the songs to a different music era which definitely made us stand out!”

Freedom’s Boombox ability to take popular songs and turn them into something unique definitely makes them pop out. The whole album was so fun to listen to and is definitely worth the purchase. I will probably be listening to it nonstop for weeks to come.