Music That Listens Back: Inside Super Group, a Band Built on Connection

Some music doesn’t try to impress you. It doesn’t rush or overwhelm. It simply arrives—and suddenly, you feel a little less alone. That’s how Super Group describes their sound: “Like a big warm hug from someone you haven’t seen in a while.” It’s a feeling rooted in voices and strings, shaped by trust, and sustained by a deep love for collaboration. 

Felix Herbst, Michael Shofi, and Melanie Ambler

From the beginning, Melanie Ambler, Felix Herbst, and Michael Shofi’s relationship to music has been about presence. When they first met at the Honeywell Arts Academy in Wabash, IN, they spent three days writing a song together with another participant, Ben Powell. There was no sheet music, no roadmap, no safety net—just listening, responding, and building something in real time. For many of them, it was the first time they had ever created music without anything written on the page. 

What they discovered in that short window was profound. Music, when stripped down to its essentials, becomes a connector. It becomes a conversation. It becomes something shared rather than performed. That experience cemented their love for spontaneous collaboration and on-the-spot music-making, a process grounded in attentiveness rather than instruction. 

Creative differences? They haven’t encountered any—yet. And maybe that’s because of how they approach collaboration. Ideas are allowed to evolve. Everyone enters the room with an open mind, ready to iterate, adjust, and listen again. There’s no urgency to be right—only a desire to arrive somewhere meaningful together.  Super Group laid the foundation during their time in Wabash through the Academy's philosophy of the “sharing of knowledge,” an inclusive and supportive environment where ideas are free flowing between all, creating a revolving door of expertise. 

Felix Herbst, violin

Each member brings a deep personal relationship with music into the group. Herbst describes himself as a product of everything he’s ever heard—the sounds he’s loved, the ones he’s rejected, all filtered through his classical training and the voice of his instrument. Shofi sees music as an act of bonding, a way of creating through vulnerability and trust with others. For Ambler just completing medical school, music is quite literally a form of care. Her cello is a tool for listening—used in one-on-one settings with patients to sense what someone needs in a given moment, and to offer that through sound. 

Melanie Ambler, cello

When they write together, the group doesn’t try to flatten those differences. Instead, they search for common ground—the emotional center they all recognize—and use it as a springboard. From there, the music grows naturally, shaped by empathy and shared intention. 

And then there’s the laughter. All of them are equally likely to crack jokes during rehearsal. “It’s a miracle we get anything done,” they admit. But that humor is part of the glue—it keeps the room human, light, and safe enough for vulnerability to exist. 

In the end, Super Group’s music feels the way it does because it’s built on listening - not just to sound, but to each other. In that listening, something rare and deeply comforting takes shape. 

Join us in Wabash for the Academy’s summer performances and enjoy the Honeywell Arts Academy Concert Series through June 2026.  

Tickets are available at honeywellartsacademy.org. 

Michael Shofi, vocals and guitar