Xclusive Interview: APRE

Indie-pop duo APRE are at the top of their musical game, and now top of the bill, embarking this month on their first headline tour. They spoke exclusively to Caroline Fairclough.
Since piercing public consciousness two years ago with their evocative alt-bop ‘All Yours’, trail-blazing two-piece APRE has shown no signs of slowing down, with both a Glastonbury set and headline tour under their collective belt. As polished purveyors of alternative pop, members Charlie Brown and Jules Konieczny favour an instinctive, organic approach to songwriting.
As Charlie exclusively told WhatsOn: ‘I think it should be a relatively quick process. If it takes more than an hour to get some kind of idea going then it’s probably not a very good one. I think in some ways being impatient is quite good, ‘cause it just makes you move on to the next stage. I think you have to have ten terrible ideas to have one idea that actually works’.
A well-oiled writing machine, the duo boasts a catalogue of almost ninety ‘as-yet-unreleased’ songs. ‘We’re lucky that both of us play guitar, drums, piano, bass and keys so we can flip between’, explains Jules. ‘If one of us doesn’t have inspiration then the other one does – we just build it up from there’.

Combining heady synths and anthemic hooks with socially-conscious storytelling, APRE’s songs are both musically and thematically compelling. It’s no secret that Charlie and Jules share a fascination with the passage of time; much of the band’s oeuvre meditates on ideas of change and transformation. ‘We felt like we’d been on such a journey through life’, Charlie says. ‘A lot of the songs are talking about that. The way life moves, and moves with us, through all these things we’ve done’.
Certainly, the evolving sound of APRE is a gift that keeps on giving. Their latest single, an irresistible romp entitled ‘Your Heart’s Like a Jungle’, combines intuitive melody lines with an infectious, pounding beat and lovelorn lyricism. ‘I don’t know where it came from’, says Charlie, ‘it literally just fell out of the sky. I never wrote the words down, especially for the chorus – they just came out’. Recognizing the new single as one of their most up-tempo tracks to date, Jules adds: ‘We wanted a song that really digs in and was almost a bit drum and bass. The drums in the chorus definitely came first’.
Citing musical influences as disparate as Tears For Fears and Bombay Bicycle Club, Charlie and Jules proudly refer to their music as being ‘wonky’.
Indeed, by allowing old and new to coexist, APRE crafts a unique sonic landscape which outright refuses to confine itself to any one genre.
Charlie summarises: ‘We’re not trying to be anything. We want people to feel like they don’t have to try and be someone.’
> APRE’s UK tour kicks off next week at Birmingham’s Sunflower Lounge. Click here for a full list of their tour dates and to book tickets.