Three years ago, UF orientation led Madeline Crowley to a group she never anticipated joining, but she hasn’t looked back.
No Southern Accent, UF’s premier coed a cappella group, was founded in 2001 and has come a long way since the group first formed. They will release “Permanent Address,” their first album since 2016, this Friday.
Crowley, a 21-year-old UF linguistics junior and current executive director of the group, said they have changed noticeably over the last five years, along with the evolution of a cappella as a music style.
“The professionalism of college groups and a cappella groups in general just skyrocketed in the past couple of years,” she said. “The groups have just gotten better and better and are continuously exceeding expectations each year and getting more competitive and impactful.”
Crowley said “Permanent Address” reflects the sense of security she and other group members feel toward No Southern Accent and how far they have come musically.
“The thought process behind it is No Southern Accent has historically prided itself on being a family and being a group of friends,” she said. “A tight-knit group of people that also love to make music with each other. This is what we have all encompassed within the past couple years, and this is the home that we’ve built with our music and the core of our foundation.”
From this album, listeners can expect a similar assortment of music genres seen on previous albums, ranging from tastes of pop and rhythm and blues to jazz. However, there is a new sense of complexity and intentionality to the tracks.
With 14 group members in total, they worked together to choose and then vote on the songs that ultimately made it on the album by using a song selection board. The songs include pieces they have performed at competitions in the past as well as personal favorites.
Some pop songs the group members chose include “E.T.” by Katy Perry feat. Kanye West and “Roaring 20s” by Panic! At The Disco.
All of the music from the album was arranged, taught and edited by Kim Evens, a 21-year-old UF advertising senior and previous music director of No Southern Accent. She worked with Myles Lopez, a 20-year-old UF women’s studies junior, to make the album happen.
Crowley said Evens and Lopez worked extensively on track edits throughout Summer and during the Fall semester leading up to the release. Each song took four to six hours to finish recording depending on the complexity, she said.
“We had to set aside five days or so to really bang out all the songs and have a lot of late nights singing,” Crowley said.
“Permanent Address” will stream on over 15 different platforms Friday, some of which include Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube, Google Play, Amazon Music and Pandora.
F a cappella group No Southern Accent is releasing their newest album "Permanent Address" on Friday.
