Vancouver, BC's Apollo Ghosts garnered heaps of praise for 2010's concept album, Mount Benson, racking up a Polaris Prize long list nod in the process. In the two years that followed, the band went out of their way not to capitalize on its success, infrequently touring and releasing a string of lo-fi releases in increasingly non-traditional formats (seven-inches, a split with an ECCW wrestler, a short story book). Finally we get a proper follow-up with Landmark, which finds the group, now expanded to a quartet, with the addition of Jarrett K. on bass, playing to their strengths without rehashing the past. Landmark was self-produced and recorded in the band's rehearsal space yet actually sounds tougher and heavier than previous outings. It lacks the clear thematic thread of Mount Benson, but there's a definite sense of band members easing into their 30s on reflective tracks like "I Followed the Rules and I Got Everything," while taking pot-shots at reductive music journalism on opener "What are Your Influences?" Landmark is chock-a-block with hooks, butting up against weird sonic experimentation that ensures there's something new to discover on repeated listens.
Read an interview with Apollo Ghosts here.
(You've Changed)Read an interview with Apollo Ghosts here.
