Equation Records have spent a fair amount of resource in the production of a new LP Eras (E=mc19) by Apse, packing it in a luxury gatefold sleeve with glossy inner bag, while vinyl is the coveted 180gm pressing…yet only 425 numbered copies will be available to buying public later this month. Espying cover photographs of landscapes, aerial views of mountains, skies and lakes, put me in mind of Isis, Pelican and other American contemporary avant-rock units who have deployed similar cover imagery, perhaps intending to align their grandiose, sweeping sonic aspirations with the grandeur of the imposing geography found within their homeland. Apse (from New England) aren’t too far away from that particular vibe, and their heavy guitar, drum and synth based sound has much appeal – a kind of rock-orchestrated, well-produced and bottom-heavy concoction that is a suitable 21st-century update on the heavy doomy prog of King Crimson or Andromeda. Similarly ponderous sentiments might be found in some of the lyrics, which betoken a world-weary mind groaning under the weight of many complex problems – the symbol-laden texts allude to stars shining black, a black avalanche in reverse, and the heartbeat of a ghost. However, the lyrics are scant and the songs are few - it’s the music that dominates, and Apse (active since 1999) seem to have mastered a particularly tight and solemn mode of playing whose distinctiveness is enhanced by imaginative production methods – particularly in the treatment of the singing voices, which have been masked out of all proportion and their humanity transformed into an unearthly disembodied squeal. Guitarist/vocalist/writer Robert Toher is the frontman, but I’m also intrigued by the work of Ezer Lichtenstein, who provides the short and spooky instrumental vignettes which lurk between the song-based cuts.

A while ago I received a copy of the follow up to Apse's debut album Spirit (Acuarela Discos 2006, now available on All Tomorrow's Parties records). Apse were an unknown name to me. Hailing from New England and formed in 1999 by mainman Robert Toher, this album certainly looks appealing. Packed in heavy gatefold sleeve with landscape photos not unlike Jon Wozencroft's images for Touch records and with a definite "Twin Peaks"-feel, the album is pressed on heavy vinyl and limited to 425 copies. Compared to Liars, Faust and Nine Inch Nails in the press copy, I was not sure if this would be my cup of tea, but Apse have surprise me in a positive sense. Even though you do get the heavy "get down and post-rock till you drop" material, there is more to this album. The band shine on their more experimental material such as Dawn and Lilian, which, devoid of guitars, and spiked with backwards looping are good ambient tracks. There is more dark ambient on Deathless. The Twin Peaks-theme is continued on The Gloom. A track like Up in the Eaves sounds more like an undated Neu. Combined with the "standard" (to these ears) rock out tunes you could argue that Apse have found themselves a niche in the already overcrowded post-rock genre. On the other hand, you could feel this album is not sure what it wants to be. The choice is to the listener. Personally speaking I quite like the combination as presented on Eras. As an aside, Equation records are planning more vinyl in the near future, including an Aidan Baker double album. Well worth watching out for. (FK).

Eras is Apse's “unofficial” follow-up to their 2006 breakout album Spirit, which was recently reissued by esteemed label/festival-coordinators All Tomorrow's Parties. In true obsessive obscurist form, it's been released in a beautiful edition of only 425 copies on slick, 180-gram vinyl, replete with a beautiful gatefold sleeve. Collectors, take heed – Equation Records will hook you up.
 
I will admit I've never actually listened to Spirit, but based on the recommendations of others, I approached this record with high hopes. And, despite it's miniscule pressing, Eras does indeed feel like a polished, complete album. In fact, this is an atmospheric, epic voyage of a record, tightly strung between post-rock, avant-garde, art-rock, and drone music. There are songs here, but there is also so much more – the ecstatic energy of “The Letter,” the gloom of “The Gloom”... What makes these songs work isn't their melodies, but their execution. The tracks are carefully interconnected, and there is a natural progression running through them. In fact, Eras is an album perfectly suited for vinyl - each side is a self-contained story, best absorbed in whole. I prefer side B, which begins with a death march before launching into daring, dreamy art-rock followed by dreary Sunday-morning haze. Fans of Animal Collective and Au will find a lot to like here, not so much because Apse sounds like either, but instead because they don't. You get what I mean?

Before we begin this review, first let us beat the dead horse once more by commending Equation Records for their work with supporting their artists and being more concerned about a great quality release than the money itself. Once again, like any other release on Equation Records, Apse' “Eras” is filled with an onslaught of extras including a printed two-sided sleeve/insert (that was unfortunately somewhat screwed up by the pressing facility's inability to read directions – the records were shipped inside the sleeves), the usual sticker on the plastic casing with a short explanation of the album, and something that few labels include: An explanation for why the inner sleeve was less than perfect quality. They do this any time a slight mistake is made with one of their releases and while most labels would simply look away, they prefer to point out the issues. Quality is of the utmost importance for Equation, and while most labels simply say that, its seen quite effectively through every one of Equation's releases.
 
Apse is a fairly genuine project having no real barriers apparent as far as the genre-influence is concerned. One can make, literally, a million comparisons regarding the project and what they can possibly sound like but most are bound to fail due to the expansive nature of the project in general. One moment they're playing drone, the next a laid back kind of minimal post-rock ala Isis on a shroom trip, and the next some wyrd industrial rock hybrid, then back to an ethnic ambient style that is present even in the rock aspect, and if there is one constant throughout this album, its that. There always seems to be a light middle-eastern influence present. While some find this album dark and frightening at times, it seems much more ritual to me. The music is complex and inventive through old measures. What you hear isn't necessarily re-inventing music or sound at all, but rather taking old methods and re-proportioning them to make a sound that is new. They've invented something strangely organic while still maintaining the unique texture of trippy beats through tracks like The Letter.
 
The ritual aspect is perhaps the most unique part of the album. We find ourselves slowly drifting through dark spectrums of ambience with much more complex background sound than can be expected from your typical dark ambient specialist, only to come out into tracks like Wishlist that find us dancing gracefully around the fire to intense archaic thought patterns. The music becomes strangely tribal and, while it probably wouldn't be considered akin to Ulf Soderburg's solo efforts by experts in the genre, Eras absolutely has this primal edge to it. A strange motion that finds us both lurking behind walls of black sound and amongst the stars themselves only to be sucked right back down to Earth and the dusty red soil of native lands. Its an understatement to say Apse re-defines genres, as they step outside even this label. One can not re-invent something they never belonged to. If the term avant-garde was ever to be saved for only one project, in the realm of rock and ambient influenced music, Apse would undoubtedly be it.
 
Even with this note though, the music is all about the atmosphere. It's constantly moving, whirling towards its own epicenter. Quaking, beating, breathing, and then suddenly only floating, only to be resurrected once more into the infinite skies between the spaces the music exists. If there's a label out there today worth supporting, Equation is it, and with wonderful, strange, beautiful, and experimental releases like this, its no wonder. Check it out!