Introducing Abel and Petersen’s Alt Ego…
CAPE Town natives Jody Abel and Callen Petersen, more commonly known as Acoustic Element, recently released their new music project, Alt Ego. are family and we can read each other.”
“It would be very hard to add a third person to Acoustic Element and Alt Ego,” adds Abel.
His view is that having tried it previously, they prefer to maintain their group dynamic and then collaborate with different people. The process of working with different artists is one they enjoy, as evidenced by the amounts of guest features on their album, which includes South Africa’s Got Talent winners Four, Amy Tjasink, Jade Hubner and Desmond John.
Listening to Alt Ego, it is clear they’ve settled on their signature sound, something all artists need to do in order to distinguish themselves from all the noise in the music industry. Speaking of their sound now Callen says: “Our niche product now is taking wellknown classical songs and adding house and dance beats, plus adding vocals to make it something special”.
After that marriage of different musical influences, how about a honeymoon of sorts? The duo is going on holiday during July, with a trip to Amsterdam, followed by a weeklong yacht party in Croatia – insert intense jealousy. The trip will conclude in Split, Croatia, at the Ultra Music Festival.
Then they jet off to Sweden to perform at a club called Cafe Opera, before returning to home soil and another round of promotions for Alt Ego. Talk about mixing business with pleasure, but you couldn’t begrudge them the experience. The pair have done this project on their own as independent artists. It is thanks to the relationships they’ve built over the years and their hard work, that they were able to have a glamorous album launch party at the One & Only with South African comedian Marc Lottering acting as MC and celebs such as Jimmy Nevis in attendance.