"I hate to keep using the same word, 'bigger,'" Jono Grant tells GRAMMY.com as he sits alongside Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki, his bandmates in the legendary dance music group Above & Beyond.

The word "bigger" has been thrown around a lot during our conversation because the title of their new album, out July 18, is Bigger Than All Of Us. But the trio uses the adjective to describe more than the LP. 

Everything they've built together over the last quarter century has gotten much bigger. Their record label, Anjunabeats, which they launched alongside their formation in 2000, has expanded into the business entity Involved Group. The portfolio includes two more labels, Anjunadeep and Anjunachill; a global event brand that hosts parties everywhere from London to New York to Cape Town; and their radio show, Above & Beyond Group Therapy, which has recorded over 600 episodes.

As the Above & Beyond footprint has expanded exponentially, so has their community of fans, which now amounts to millions of people across the globe — who, as McGuinness describes, are known for being simply wonderful.

"Friends of mine who come to the show for the first time are amazed at how kind everybody is. Considerate. We've fostered this really wonderful atmosphere in the crowd," he says. "It's a response to the way that we conduct ourselves and the honesty in our music."

A major part of A&B's appeal is the authenticity they pour into their songs. In their early days as a pure remixing trio, they reworked tracks for superstars like Britney Spears, Madonna and Dido. But when it came time to make original music, they sought to convey their honest emotions rather than crafting a series of club cuts; as McGuinness points out, all but one song on their first album, 2006's Tri-State, "is a letter from the heart of A&B with intent."

Their sonic palette has become defined by joyous, sensational synth lines, perfect for massive raves. But underneath the hype is an intimate songwriting dynamic that has lasted throughout the lifespan of A&B. What's more, they have a set of core singers — Richard Bedford, Zoë Johnston and Justine Suissa — who have been working with them for 15-20 years. These voices complete their musical identity, and their consistent collaboration demonstrates A&B's commitment to the people close to them.

As its title suggests, Bigger Than All Of Us is a celebration of all of the elements that have helped Above & Beyond become what they are today. Bedford, Johnston, and Suissa all make multiple appearances, along with a few other collaborators who are longtime friends. Its 16 tracks offer messages of love and perseverance over their uplifting soundscapes, all of which display their diverse musical abilities; they explore trance, progressive, house, ambient, acoustic, and even extend to drum and bass for the first time with "Blood From A Stone."

A month after the album's arrival, Above & Beyond will let fans in on the celebration with their North American arena tour, which will hit 13 cities from Aug. 15 to Oct. 4. Some may be coming for the first time, others will have been there for 25 years. But they are all coming for the same reason: to be a part of something bigger than any one of them.

Before releasing Bigger Than All Of Us, GRAMMY.com spoke to A&B about their thoughts on all the levels of their community, how they removed their own egos from the project, and what it was like to come back to making an album after six years.

How has your approach to music been affected as everything has grown over the past 25 years?

McGuinness: I think we go about making music in exactly the same way. There's a clearer idea of what might be suitable for A&B, but that changes by the day and broadens. Generally speaking, [Jono and Paavo] come up with musical ideas. Zoë, or me, or Justine will write a song on top, and we progress ideas as we did 25 years ago. Paavo's no longer in the U.K. He lives in Finland, so we see him occasionally and work remotely with him. That's obviously a difference in the dynamic. But in terms of the way that we work, it feels the same as it's always felt. 

Siljamäki: Ever since we started making our own songs — because we started as a remixing trio — it's always been very song[writing]-focused. That's a very A&B thing, and I think that's always been very us. Especially on the albums. 

On this album, about six/seven months ago, there was a moment where I started to feel like we had some really good songs. And maybe they weren't produced or ready, but it really put my mind at rest. At least I'm really proud of the songs. 

How has the dynamic between your core singers, such as Richard Bedford, Justine Suissa, and Zoë Johnston, evolved over the past 25 years?

McGuinness: When Zoë [Johnston] or Justine come into the studio, there's a very distinct kind of music that we write and they write for us. They do have things outside of A&B, but I think they have a discreet part of their brain that keeps working with us. 

Grant: And they also challenge us. It's possible to work in a way where someone sends you a vocal and then you write some chords underneath. But Zoë and Justine, when they come in, they drive us quite hard in terms of getting music that inspires them out of us.

Siljamäki: I've really enjoyed looking back with Zoë about how we've been writing songs over such a long period. So many of the songs were written about actual things that happened in our lives at the time. "Love Is Not Enough" [from 2011's Group Therapy] was written when Zoë was going through a tough time. Now we're writing new ones about what's going on in our lives right now. Having that depth to the relationship is a really interesting dynamic.

Has Anjuna's global community influenced your music stylistically?

McGuinness: I think it's always been global from the start. I used to work for Warner Music UK, and their scope was entirely U.K.-only. I remember the day that I left to join these guys, suddenly we were dealing with the whole world. We were getting demos from Australia, China, from all over the place.

Grant: It coincided with the internet becoming more of a thing.

McGuinness: What is great about that is the kind of music that we make gets heard internationally. [But] we're not getting a greater influence from abroad in terms of subtle differences between the music in our scene that's made in Australia, Russia or Argentina. There are subtle differences, don't get me wrong, but I think in terms of us, it's got bigger, but it's not got wider.

Since your previous album, you all went through COVID, released solo projects, and Paavo, you considered leaving music behind altogether. How did those experiences fuel this new album?

McGuinness: I really enjoyed doing those deep sets from my kitchen table [during lockdown]. Finishing a set and not having to go anywhere, just getting a pizza out of the oven. It was really nice... It gave me another arm to my dance music career that I never anticipated. I'm really glad that I had that. But I was glad to put a line under and get back to A&B.

Grant: Taking a break is a good thing, but also looking back, I was very keen that this album would be a step towards the source of what made Tri-State rather than getting on the train and doing the next album without thinking about it. I can't remember the last time I listened to one of our albums, but Tony and I sat down in the studio and listened to a lot of Tri-State and really got knee deep into what it is that's making this album tick.

Siljamäki: I started going clubbing, which I hadn't done for years, and I fell in love with what we do even before I was ready to come back to the band. Now that the album is done, it feels pretty awesome that I'm loving making music again and loving that we've done something so great together — to say that this is done and I'm not burned out, and it hasn't destroyed my joy of making music.

In recent years, many electronic artists with similar followings have become major celebrities, doing fashion campaigns, commercials, etc. With your profile, you could have stepped into that spotlight, but you chose to keep the focus on the community. Why is that?

Grant: We've just done stuff we're comfortable with. We had, for example, a sponsorship deal with T-Mobile, but that enabled us to invite fans to gigs and do meet-and-greets. When we partnered up with things like that, we've tried to make it so that it fits in with what we're doing rather than doing something for the sake of it. If something is tied in with our genuine personalities and interests, that's one thing, but faking something that isn't fitting is not what we do.

We're in a fortunate situation because we already have a base of fans that we can reach out to. It is a tricky position that young artists find themselves in because the way to reach your audience is often through social media. It's not something I particularly enjoy spending too much time doing. 

Siljamäki: I think that's why the show is a really awesome thing. It's one thing having connections online. But when we actually come to the shows and we are there with the people, the people are there with the other people that maybe they've [met] online, that's a really important part of our thing.

How does it feel to have seen Anjuna grow into a thriving international business?

Grant: When we started, we were involved in everything. From signing the records to what gigs we would do. And now there's this thing that's bigger than us. It's its own entity that carries through the original ethos that we had. Other artists are now part of that, and different branches of Anjuna are out there. There's more of everything. So it's hard to micro-manage all of that. But it's actually really exciting that there are these things that we all discover within our own company. 

McGuinness: It's not us directing the company to do what it should do. They're having meetings probably right now about things that we don't know about.  And I love that it works that way. We're operating in every area that a music company can and doing well at it.

The title Bigger Than All Of Us suggests a reverence for this community. What does that community mean to you?

Grant: The great thing about music is that it brings people from different backgrounds, opinions and situations together and actually makes the world a better place. That has helped foster this community in our world. It's lovely how people are pre-programmed before they come to our gigs to get on with each other. 

Siljamäki: And it feels like it's grown. Even now. A&B is at the center and the core of it, but it's grown so much bigger than that. 

Do you feel like the music and community of A&B have made the world a better place?

Grant: I feel like we're agents of that. It's actually the people who do the work. So I wouldn't want us to take credit for that, but if we can somehow help, that's a good thing.