Aivi & Surasshu

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 active2013 – present
Associated acts
Websiteaivisura.com
MembersAivi Tran
Steven "surasshu" Velema

Career

Aivi Tran and Steven Velema first met in person at GDC in 2012, and discussed the idea of a piano/chiptune hybrid project.[3]

The Black Box

Communicating after the convention, the two collaborated on an independent album project entitled The Black Box 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. The album was positively received, with Kotaku describing it as "lush, melodic, and well put-together".[4]

Steven Universe

The 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. The duo made use of leitmotifs expressing each character's personality, which changes slightly depending on the situation.[5] 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.[6]

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]

Other projects

The duo subsequently worked on numerous video game soundtracks including Soul Saga, Ikenfell,[10] Cryamore and Way to the Woods,[11] as well as several interactive Google Doodles.[12]

References
  1. "Dropping Gems: An Interview with the Composers of the Score for 'Steven Universe'". Noisey.vive.com. January 15, 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. "Tumblr". Tumblr.
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/comments/55jnhz/were_aivi_surasshu_the_music_composers_of_steven/
  4. Hamilton, Kirk. "Acoustic Piano Meets Chiptunes, And It's Freakin' Lovely". Kotaku.
  5. McDonnell 2017, pp. 161–162
  6. Thurm, Eric (January 15, 2016). "Dropping Gems: An Interview with the Composers of the Score for 'Steven Universe'".
  7. "Top 200 Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  8. "iTunesCharts.net: 'Steven Universe, Vol. 2 (Original Soundtrack)' by Steven Universe (American Albums iTunes Chart)". www.itunescharts.net.
  9. "Soundtrack Steven Universe, Volume 2 Chart History". Billboard.
  10. tran, aivi (November 16, 2018). "Music by me & @surasshu/ Guitars performed by @Stemage/ Follow @ChevyRay for updates on Ikenfell".
  11. "Meet The Young Aussie Behind The Most Beautiful Game Of E3". Junkee. June 24, 2019.
  12. 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".
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