Get ready for a whole lot of new material from alt-pop wonders APRE. With a fab mini-album about to land, and a debut proper “pretty much” finished, co-vocalists Charlie and Jules have done a great job of making the best out of a proper rubbish year.
Jules! Hello. How’s it going? What are you lot up to at the moment?
It’s going great. We are stuck in our little studio mastering the upcoming mini-album and just writing some new tunes! Feeling more inspired than ever in terms of writing; it’s probably a subconscious reaction to what’s going on around us right now.
Tell us about your new mini-album then – what inspired it? Is there an overarching theme?
‘Always In My Head’ is eight tracks long, some of the tunes are over two years old now. We didn’t feel like we wanted to release our debut album this year, due to all the current goings on on planet earth, so a mini-album seemed pretty appropriate as we knew we probably wouldn’t be able to tour it yet. This collection of songs are all linked to the goings on in Charlie’s head, where music is a platform for him to escape from all the negative, worrying thoughts that often overload his head. The whole thing is a message of escapism, we repeatedly asked each other ‘what’s life really worth?’ and ‘Why do we fixate on pleasing other people constantly?’ and these songs are us attempting to answer those questions.
What was the timeline like on putting it together, how much was made post the pandemic kicking in?
All the songs were actually written pre-COVID. But everything was finished during the pandemic as we had so much time on our hands to really delve into the sonics of each song and perfect everything. We even got an orchestra to remotely perform on a track called ‘I Know I’ll Find It’ right at the start of lockdown which was a weird experience.
Have all the new rules and restrictions impacted the way you work much?
Now I wouldn’t say so, but during the months in which households were not allowed to mix we really realised how special it is writing in the same room as each other. I think Charlie and I thrive off constantly trying to impress one another, so the songs we were writing separately sounded pretty shit. However, that did mean when we were eventually allowed in a room together that we were suddenly creative geniuses!
Does everything being doom and gloom affect the music you want to make?
Music has always been an outlet for us to escape too I think, our happy place. So surprisingly all the songs that have sprung up recently all seem to be pretty jolly, that’s probably us unconsciously trying to escape the happenings around us right now.
How much of releasing this mini-album now is clearing the decks for a full album next year?
The full album is already written, and is pretty much nearly finished. So we are in a nice position musically, just wish we could get back out on the road asap.
Has putting together this release helped you to hone in on what you want your debut album to look like?
‘Always In My Head’ is quite different sounding to what the main album will be like, it’s quite sample-led and could almost be a sort of concept album as all the songs tie into one subject. The full album, however, is sounding much grittier, more guitars and some really intimate moments too, we are super pumped about all of it. The debut album is looking great, put it that way – long and winding, but it will be worth the journey.
It’s weird that we’re already coming up to the end of the year now, what are your hopes for 2021?
Tour, please just a single tour! We are itching to get out and play the new songs so we will definitely be playing all over the UK and Europe too (if we can). The debut album will come out in 2021, that will be massive. See you in the charts.
Taken from the November issue of Dork. APRE’s mini-album ‘Always In My Head’ is out 6th November.
