Apse were formed nine years ago by vocalist/guitarist Robert Toher in Newton, CT. The band, currently a sextet (including Aaron Piccirillo, aka Somnolent) with additional "friends," reside in Cape Cod and the surrounding islands. Somehow staying below most (American) radars, they've released a handful of EPs, but the gorgeous, slow-build Spirit, which originally came out on the Spanish label Acuarela Discos in 2006, is their first full-length debut. ATP's reissuing it in July to hopefully spread Apse's haunting sound to a larger audience. Fittingly for a band that's taken its time, the 11 "songs" feel like one slow-release composition, building to crescendos then fading into the next, until the final 11-minute title track drifts into the soothing feedback haze of Tim Hecker's Harmony in Ultraviolet. We have track four, "Shade Of The Moor," which finds the group in ascension mode. You'll hear some Sigur Rós in the falsetto and some Radiohead in the instrumentation, as well as a touch of Spacemen 3's lift in the background fuzz, but this is New England born, and you get a more Americanized post-rock chill.
Apse - "Shade Of The Moor" (MP3)
On the record "Shade Of The Moor" is followed by an echoing, groaning "(Transition)" and then careening, ultra-percussive "The Crowned." You can hear another standout, the more urgent "Legions" at the band's MySpace. "Legions" comes right before "Shade Of The Moor" on Spirit -- play them in sequence to get at least a partial idea of this album's dark beauty.
The re-release of Spirit is out 7/7 on ATP. It's recommended. Apse are playing the ATP New York event in Monticello on 9/20.
