APSE

"Lo-fi, tense and occasionally terrifying...an enviable sense of dramatic narrative...spectacular and frequently unsettling climaxes spiked with Sonic Youth guitars, Robert Toher's disembodied vocals and a relentless rhythmic drive." - Uncut
"Thought provoking, challenging and at times horribly beautiful, 'Spirit' is recommended without reservation. 8/10" - Rock Sound
"Epic in scope and black of heart, 'Spirit' is an ominous treat." - Clash
"Subtle, elegant and gorgeous, greater than the sum of its parts: a reviewers’ nightmare. This huge, world-sized album is so easy on the ear, yet so rich; simple in structure, yet dense with organic detail...Strangely reminiscent of all kinds of neglected sounds, mixed into new formulae, it blows away the endless parade of GSYBE/Sigur Ros plagarists... but If Apse can be compared to any contemporary, it must be the current incarnation of the Liars - the sound is warmer, less peculiar than Liar’s 2006 groundbreaker Drum’s Not Dead, but Spirit shares the feel of something grown from intensely evolving percussion and sonic workouts. Both have a sense of newness born of concentrated, iterated playing and sculpting and playing: drums, and the most atavistic, dna-deep rhythms first, built up from the guts and laid with exotic, unsettling melody. Both, like landscapes and living things, are simple from a distance, but zoom in and no two moments are alike. In the end, it’s about feel, about putting something undefinable, something magical and personal into the creation. Apse have achieved something with this album that many musicians and bands have aimed for, but not quite reached. Spirit has so much going on inside it, try to give any of it a name - alien blues, classical psychedelia, ambient gothic - and you diminish the thing. It’s simply one of the finest albums to come our way these twelve months, and certainly the most sweetly elusive."-Organ Magazine
"The real-deal of all the minimalist post-rock groups still trying to ape some amalgamation of Glenn Branca, Slint, Sigur Ros and Godspeed! Frankly, they’re a reminder of why Explosions In The Sky are so boring. Spare and ambient (and sort of creepy) at its core, but with a rhythmic, tribal underbelly that bubbles up often up to keep things hypnotically intense, Spirit is a most interesting record in this genre because it defies easy classification by proper drug accompaniment. Uppers, downers, hallucinogens, you name it: All would somehow seem appropriate psychotropic corollaries. But regardless of toxic intake, the album creeps its way up to you and starts to crawl all over your skin and eventually wraps itself around you with a ghostly, ominous embrace. And to be honest, when the weird, voodoo vocals rear their head every five minutes or so, I get the slightest of chills in my stomach."-Kenny Herzog For CMJ
"...a work of almost unparalleled versatility and style..." "...Without any question, Spirit is, in every way, one of the most important musical statements of at least the past five years."- Amp Camp
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"There is a sense of breaking boundaries here, with some exceptional results. This five-piece from Boston and New York is very definitely a band to watch, all the more so as it has completely avoided many of the cliches of indie rock, especially (and thankfully) the screeching hysteria."- Helen Wright, MusicOhm (UK)
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Apse’s execution shows talent and self control, enticing but never obvious. They move from melancholy to menacing and back again using swelling guitars and endless corridors of sound. Apse might get very popular someday, but you’d never accuse them of being pop. Their ambitious music is inspiring and infinite." - Amp Camp
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"What Apse have created on their latest EP is nothing short of astounding. Somewhere between a motherboard’s sense of mercy and a Catholic’s sense of restraint, Apse have found a balance and a cohesion that truly stands as an example of why music is art" -UpbeetMusic
"Apse’s melodic aptitude separates them from their less inspired peers. They don’t fall prey to the accusations of pointlessness and self-indulgence that typically dog the genre, instead taking great pains to carry their songs to logical, if unorthodox, conclusions."-Splendid Magazine
"35 minutes in weightlessness to be listened to in loop"-Autresdirections
"Apse has an intriguing approach, and this is one of the few bands left that one can honestly say has few close kin. Apse defies easy categorization - a raucous blend of surreal, otherworldly vocals, percussive stomp, driving prog-laced post-punk, and cerebral escapisms. The vocalist took turns belting out alien melodies, banging violently on disembodied toms with fistfuls of drum sticks, and shaking maracas and tambourines while dancing like a possessed man."- Dan Sorells for Delusions Of Adequacy