Press Release: UW A CAPPELLA GROUP NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED

Madison – Fundamentally Sound, an all-male student-run a cappella group at UW-Madison,  gained national recognition this week for an original arrangement of Radiohead’s “High and Dry” on their debut album Stratosphere.  The piece, written by recent alumnus Bret Fanshaw, was nominated for a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) for “Best Male Collegiate Arrangement” by the Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA).  Each year, CASA receives submissions and judges a cappella groups from all around the world, including professional, collegiate, and high school groups.

“I honestly couldn’t believe it at first,” said Fanshaw, who graduated from UW in May 2009 with a B.A. in International Studies.  “We’ve all worked so hard to put this group together over the last 5 years, and it was truly incredible to see it pay off like that – especially on our very first album.”

Nationally, Fundamentally Sound was 1 of just 10 male collegiate groups and 1 of only 3 Midwestern collegiate groups nominated for a CARA this year.  Other male groups hailed from schools mostly on the East coast, such as the University of North Carolina, Brandeis University, Brown, and Clemson.  Among the nominees are recent American Idol contestant Anoop Desai for “Best Male Collegiate Solo” with the UNC Clef Hangers and the Tufts Beelzebubs, who received 4 nominations total and recently took second on NBC’s The Sing-Off, a nationally televised a cappella competition.

To see the full list of 2010 CARA nominees please visit http://www.casa.org/cara2010n

“Just to be recognized among some of the top groups and performers in the country is incredible for us,” said Michael Trevis, President of Fundamentally Sound and a student of film at UW. “It’s extremely flattering and makes me anxious to record again.”

Though this is Fundamentally Sound’s first CARA nomination, it is not UW-Madison’s first. Most recently, the UW MadHatters were nominated for “Best Male Collegiate Solo” for Mike Jurken’s performance on “I Believe” from their 2007 album Not for Credit.

Freddie Feldman of VOCOMOTION Studios in Skokie, IL worked with Fundamentally Sound to record, mix, and release Stratosphere, and is also a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys).

“Working on the Fundamentally Sound album was a pleasure. Unlike many collegiate a cappella groups, they know what they want and they smartly go about it,” said Feldman of FS.  “They also happen to be really cool guys, which makes it even more fun to work with them. It’s terrific to be recognized and they certainly deserve it.”

###