APSE to release “Climb Up” out October 20th on ATP Records
Music News | Jul 24th, 2009
APSE have announced details for their second album “Climb Up,” which is being released on ATP Records. The bulk of this writing process took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that’s come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it – tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band’s members as they crafted the album.
Climb Up was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. Drawing from a mixture of existing demos that were turned into working songs as well as full-band improvised live recordings that Bobby cut up and formed into song structures, overdubbing effects and vocals on top of them – the band ultimately chose and honed in on a final cut of 12 tracks, culled from a larger body of work.
The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon – and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. Climb Up is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band.
The record is a major departure from the band’s most notable predecessor, Spirit – which was completed 4 years prior. Where Spirit explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages, and minimal, haunting vocals, Climb Up proves a bold step out of that darkness. The intricacies of this new world are depicted as if staggering from the world of Spirit into a very different, more illuminated place.
Not to mention its packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics, a range of instruments both modern and classical and – notably – a much stronger emphasis on voices and melodies.
Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches – and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year. Listen, and be immersed.
Check out http://www.apsemusic.com and http://www.myspace.com/apse for more info about their newest release.
