Seven Pillars is the culminating project of our first decade as an ensemble. It’s also a project whose lifetime we hope will last well beyond our own. Seven Pillars began with the mind of its composer, Andy Akiho, whom each of us came to know in a unique way-through overlapping years at school, early exposure to his compositions, binge-watching marching percussion shows he was a part of, or admiring his work as a steel pan virtuoso. The common thread between these encounters was a recognition of his exceptional creativity. Andy has a rare ability to write music unlike anything we’ve ever heard, and yet it has a transcendent familiarity, an inevitability. This combined with his understanding of the percussive craft makes him a truly exciting collaborator.