Listen to APART
Apart have waited a long time for this. The French outfit have existed in some form for almost five years but are only now releasing their first record, out today. They like to describe its sound as “indie rock in autumn” but for clarity, ‘Septembre’ features four acoustic-led, melancholy rock tracks that should satisfy fans of Modern Baseball, The Hotelier, Into It. Over It, and more.
What took them so long? Well, the band- Edgar on bass, Julien and Vianney on guitars and vocals, and Maxime on drums- didn’t just choose their name because of how it sounds. It was inspired by an early hiatus they were forced into.
“We liked how it sounds, true,” says Vianney, “but we also liked the meaning around physical and mental distance. You can get that feeling when you lose closeness with people you love, or sometimes it’s just time that makes people drift apart. When we chose the name in 2016, we knew we may be facing that same situation too. I was moving to… the UK for my job. It was a big frustration for us since the project was progressing well and we had enough material for a record and to play gigs. We basically put the project on hold for two to three years and really resumed it in mid-2019”.
The end result of all that time and energy is a record inspired by familiar indie rock, punk, and emo names, sure, but misery, melancholy, and passion too. As Vianney explains, “September is a season transition month, an atmosphere full of energy but also a time when we can all easily drift into melancholy. That’s the feeling we wanted to translate. For example, ‘Now It’s Clear’ is about dealing with mental obsession, and ‘Running Away’ is about finding that unique sweet spot/location where you feel better while everything is going wrong around you”.
And now that Apart are together, they don’t plan to stop. “We already got enough material to record a new EP,” says Vianney. “We plan to go back in the studio at some point mid-2021 and look for a label. We’ll see if we got enough songs to make it a full LP. Then, as soon as possible and when it will be safe to do so, we want to get back on the road and tour as much as we can.”