Apricot Rail

Interview with In The Pines artists, including Apricot Rail. - Drum Media

Treading the synergistic cross currents of trance minimalism and orchestrated pop music, impressively unself-conscious five-piece Apricot Rail purported an elegant scope of melodies, in which waves of unidentifiable noise, dulcet vibraphone pulses and ethereal clarinet and flute solos meshed to create an elegant, grand music that was equally ambient and epic. An icy Radiohead without the guitar egos, a Sigur Ros without the Hopelandish, Apricot Rail is a cerebral, ecstatic combo that celebrates density of execution and hypnotic airiness. Positively mesmerising. - X-Press Magazine

As the sun set, Apricot Rail appropriately took advantage of the best natural lighting of the evening, as they gently pushed their delicate melodies into the balmy air. One of the most hotly anticipated sets of the day, the band didn’t disappoint in delivering the instrumental dreaminess that endears people to their recordings.

Apricot Rail’s set may have been a nice lullaby to send the handfull of toddlers scattered around the venue to bed. Perhaps they were the band’s or the fans’, but the toddlers at this year’s Pines reflected the more establish, long-serving and iconic Perth bands which dominated the top of the bill.
- X-Press Magazine

APRICOT RAIL
Self-Titled
Hidden Shoal
Recordings


There is no doubting that Perth has often been fertile ground, and the era of being a strictly power-pop dominated location has well passed. So when introduced to local quintet Apricot Rail it is not the fact that they are a mainly instrumental act with their feet firmly in the post rock camp that is the surprise, the thing that sets them apart is just how damn good they are for a band that are so young.

Their recordings have had a fair working over on local community radio and rightly so. A Public Space, Pouring Milk Out The Window and If You Can’t Join Them, Beat Them are all favourites of the live show.

While unnecessary up to this point, Jack Quirk’s listless vocals are a welcome addition on Car Crash while Trout Fishing In Australia and Halfway House would be well at home on a Múm album. Intricate guitar play shape the quiet/loud dynamics of the tunes and multi instrumentalist Mayuka Juber adds the textures.

Apricot Rail’s debut album is the type that should be listened to in its entirety, but that is not to discount the isolated moments of sheer beauty contained within.

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT - Xpress Magazine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 01, 2009 – The Australian music label Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the debut single by Perth-based multi-instrumental pop quintet Apricot Rail.

‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ sees Apricot Rail producing some of the most discretely charming, lush instrumental pop music you’re likely to hear all year. Delicate, bell-like arpeggiated guitar weaves around snaking clarinet and flute, while the beautifully held back yet sanguine rhythm section drives the whole thing into a blurred, sun-soaked horizon. ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ is an anthem without ever having to be anthemic, a melancholic reverie that never resorts to the emotional ease of sadness.

Most instrumental rock suggests the apocalypse is coming. If it is, Apricot Rail are too busy crafting beautiful lilting melodies to care. This Perth quintet have the charm, humour and songwriting nous – and a killer live show – to re-ignite anyone’s belief in music’s subtle, giddy powers.

“The might of, I dunno, Mogwai is still there, but the charm of Múm is also present. They paint mountains in broad strokes but afterwards they take time to put in Sherpas and goats partying on the cliff face. That’s how I like my monumental arms of guitar served up - gigantic but also tiny” – Love Is My Velocity

The band’s initial demo recieved regular rotation on Perth’s RTRFM, and though unreleased, was rated by the station’s Homegrown presenter Chris Wheeldon as his second-favourite local outing of 2008. In the second half of the 2008, Apricot Rail chalked up some serious gig mileage, along the way supporting the likes of Holly Throsby, Charge Group and Adam Said Galore, whilst finding refuge among Perth’s emerging post-rock/experimental scene.

In November 2008 the band headed into Kingdom studios under the guidance of Simon Struthers (Umpire, Adam Said Galore, Mukaizake) where the band recorded their self-titled debut long player. Australian fans got a chance to taste some of the new album’s sublime wares when the Apricot Rail track ‘If You Can’t Join Them, Beat Them’ was released on the prestigious Spunk Singles Club compilation album along with the likes of Leader Cheetah, The Dead Sea and The Middle East. The band was also recently nominated for Favourite Newcomer in the 2009 Western Australian Music Industry Awards.

‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ is available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store until the release of Apricot Rail’s self-titled album on the 4th of July. The band will be doing a run of shows in Perth throughout June and July.

Hidden Shoal Recordings is an Australia-based independent music label that has earned a reputation for releasing exciting and engaging new independent music that is not bound by genre or style. Hidden Shoal Recordings was chosen as one of the top ten favourite labels of 2007 by Textura magazine, and has been dubbed “This generation’s 4AD” by prominent New York radio host DJ Mojo.

Label Site: http://music.hiddenshoal.com
Label Store: http://agora.hiddenshoal.com
Apricot Rail: http://www.myspace.com/apricotrail

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Hidden Shoal Recordings is an Australia-based music label that has earned a reputation for releasing engaging new music that is not bound by genre or style. The label has been dubbed “This generation’s 4AD” by prominent New York radio host DJ Mojo. - The Vine

Apricot Rail succeed where so many other post-rock bands fail because they’re able to get to the point. What genre-defining bands like Explosions In The Sky take eight or nine minutes to do Apricot Rail are capable of in three and a half. This impeccable sense for the immediacy of great pop structures is arguably one of their biggest assets, and is displayed masterfully on their debut album. It’s a great formula, and they’ve nailed it here on more than one occasion, whilst maintaining an eclectic approach to texture and timbre.

‘If You Can’t Join Them, Beat Them’ morphs from delicate traipse to amiable jaunt to full-on ecstatic rush, in just over four minutes, and on ‘Trout Fishing In Australia’ the band’s penchant for melodic overload is complemented by skittering processed beats and Múm-like strings and horns. There’s an overwhelming sense of hope and lightness to their compositions, and thanks to the brevity of most of the tracks here, they carry the listener on a dreamy flight of fancy that flits gently from one airy mood to another. Only on the eight-plus minute ‘Wadnama’ do the band sink their teeth into more predictably epic here of dynamics. The flute-tastic ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ is like an optimistic summer afternoon and ‘Halfway House’ adds burbling electronics to the band’s signature sound of guitar harmonics and urgent rhythms.

The album’s (and arguably the band’s) crowning achievement has to be ‘The Parachute Failure’- it’s spine-tinglingly anthemic and really leaps out at the listener. It so beautifully epitomises the band’s key strengths, as evidenced throughout this remarkable debut - powerful and emotive melodies that engage through the push and pull of delicate restraint and blissful abandon In a word: lovely.

Adam Trainer, Drum Media (Perth) - Drum Media

And but so then we had the final act of the evening APRICOT RAIL and I have a truckload of overwrought sentences for these guys. Hold onto your hats!

-An Equation: Plethora of instruments + technical difficulties + slightly tipsy and tired Axel = annoyed Axel.
-‘like a drunk witnessing the dawn as the waves break’ (excerpt from the biography Why I Drink: How Apricot Rail’s magnificent relaxed approach to transcendence drove me to again drink whiskey on a beach.)
-My cat Matthew (it’s a real name for a cat!) would really enjoy this music, it seems like something he’d enjoy before drifting off to sleep. That is definitely a compliment.
-‘a breeze blowing through the spring mist’ (Ernest Hemingway is dead.)
-Apricot Rail used all the chord progressions and melodic flourishes that I cherish: it was like witnessing emotional battery.
-‘like if the Penguin Café Orchestra were actual Penguins’ (excerpt from Depressed Footwear: My Life after Happy Feet)
-‘gentle like a warm glass of milk’ (this trick started off cute, now it’s contrite) - Fat Shan Reporter

A carefully structured tune from instrumental pop sextet Apricot Rail, who are known for this sort of thing apparently. With twinkling interstellar samples, a sad but sprightly woodwind and echoing guitar riffs, they have built ace soundtrack to some kind of time lapse photography film about nature. - Beat Magazine

In the latest edition in our series of interviews with Perth artists, we spend a minute with Apricot Rail and ask them a thing or two…

Describe your music in five words or less.
Down-tempo/instrumental.

What’s going on right now in the world of Apricot Rail?
In the midst of writing our second record which is slowly taking shape. We’re launching our new single at the Bakery on the 6th of August which is the first of a new batch of songs, as well as supporting Marnie Stern and Akron Family in the coming months. Jack also just bought a new amp and its tone is pure golden!

What are the worst and best gigs you’ve ever played and why?
Launching the first album was pretty fun & had a good vibe to it. Some of the most enjoyable have been simply playing to a few friends in a suburban lounge room or kitchen. Most of the lesser shows have been the ones plagued by technical problems, making do without a decent sound-check or trying to cram in on a small stage. With our set-up there[s so many things that can go wrong and gigs often descend into damage control fairly quickly.

Tell us something about your music that we might not know.
Each song takes a really, really long time to write.

You’re putting together your perfect local gig? Who would you get to play and where? Feel free to include acts/DJs/bands/venues that no longer exist.

Stina, Adam Said Galore, Bluetile Lounge, Braving the Seabed in a lounge room where we can bring our own wine and pass out on the couch in front of the fire at 4AM. - Life Is Noise

Having not spent a huge amount of my time in Sydney, I don’t really have a frame of reference when it comes to Surry Hills. The picture Perth instrumental pop sextet Apricot Rail paint with their latest single is a study in suburban idyll. Typically minimal in style, it conjures images of sprinklers rhythmically spraying water out onto thirsty lawns, tinkling percussion as clouds of dandelion seeds catch the sun and woodwind zephyrs propelling stray leaves along wide, warm footpaths. The guitars may be the most prominent element, but the entire track is so understated, that they simply form a part of the landscape, rather than dominating it. If that all sounds a little too vague, have a listen to the track below and see what you think; if you like it, you’ll be heartened to know that Surry Hills is but a taste of the bands second album, which is due for release next year through Hidden Shoal. - Reviewed Music

Apricot Rail are a band that continue to develop, the dynamics created from their carefully calculated temporal shifts are masterful. With newest member, Justin Manzano now regularly featuring on laptop and samples, their sound has gained another dimension. The harmonising detuned guitars cement wonderfully with the wind instruments and electronics. Cleverly disguised pop music for the post-rock attuned mind, Apricot Rail tap into a sonic area that is epically appealing, yet vibrant and creative. - Faster Louder

The time had arrived for Apricot Rail to deliver a progression of post-rock parcels to the well-lubricated crowd. A hush fell upon the room as guitarist Jack Quirk laid down a twinkling riff, which his fellow band members proceeded to unwrap carefully by sending layer after complementary layer into the crowd.

Clarity descended upon the room – the kind of clarity that only clean, pure sound can bring – as the audience nodded appreciatively to the strolling-in-the-sunshine beat. The band’s only female member, Mayuka Juber, colluded with her baritone horn to strike an enchanting silhouette against the projection screen, where grainy blues mimicked the intricately textured music. Hopeful as summer sunrise, yet laced with a sense of childhood nostalgia, the charming music of Apricot Rail soon had the audience spellbound. Throughout the set the multi-talented Juber played a bevy of instruments; clarinet, keyboard, flute, melodica and glockenspiel as well as the aforementioned horn. If each song was a serene mountain landscape, Juber’s addition was the dance of the beautiful nymphs who resided there, the feminine spirits flowing within the landforms as springs and streams. Quirk, too, demonstrated a tendency towards multi-instrumentalism, playing trumpet at one stage and joining Juber in a crystalline glockenspiel duet.

Whilst its music triggers immediate comparisons to post-rock giants such as Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai, Apricot Rail brings a distinct quaintness to this increasingly popular and diverse genre. Recently signed to Australian label Hidden Shoal Records and soon to be releasing its self-titled debut album, this is a band who may soon be taking the express route to high esteem. - Faster Louder

The sun-splashed instrumental rock Apricot Rail delivers on its 2009 self-titled LP isn’t all-bombast all the time. Rather, the Australian outfit structures carefully these colorful compositions, so that woodwinds, strings, and dusty organ sounds are as critically important to the final product as the countless treble-heavy guitar tracks. Backward-cycling loops are among the strong flourishes that line “Trout Fishing in America” or “Wadnama”, where trumpets and clarinets help thicken the web of precious glockenspiel and clicking beats. With such an emphasis on these minuscule particulars, the Apricot Rail sound is less similar to Explosions in the Sky’s All Of A Sudden… than it is to Múm on its 2000 debut, Yesterday Was Dramatic—Today Is OK, although the grandiose, set-closing theatrics are firmly in place on a lot of this album. “The Parachute Failure”, for example, just wouldn’t be the same if Matt Saville’s marching snares didn’t give way to the digital delay-flecked climax that they do, and the choppy, potent framework of “Halfway House” wouldn’t be as effective a closer if it weren’t for all of the crash cymbals. At nearly six-and-a-half minutes, “Halfway House” begins somewhat like a prog-techno track, with prodding percussion and a micro patter of sound before everything comes together—large and small—in a development that showcases some of the most interesting moments this record has to offer. Apricot Rail does the Big Thing well, but these five talents just don’t need to rely on it. Dominic Umile - popmatters.com