APRE

An ’80s pop sensibility is central to the sound of this U.K. indie duo comprising multi-instrumentalists Charlie Brown and Jules Konieczny, who formed in the late 2010s.
Although originally from Kent, the pair met at Ealing Chess Club in West London and studied for a BA in Creative Musicianship at The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. From 2016 onwards Brown and Konieczny played drums and guitar, respectively, as session players in the same bands, all the while writing material together for their own separate project that would ultimately become, APRE. The name itself approximates the French word “après,” and was settled on when it became apparent that another band had already claimed the Gallic term as their moniker. A career in music felt like a natural step for the pair, who both had musical fathers. Time spent bonding in other people’s bands also meant that when they released their debut single and first played out as APRE, they arrived fully formed as an act.
Their early releases — including the 2018 EPs The Movement of Time and Drum Machines Killed Music — were issued on their own Beach 91 label, the name being a reference to a sign on the garden shed at Ealing Chess Club. Before the end of the year they signed to Polydor Records, which released their March 2019 EP Everyone's Commute. That record coincided with a U.K. tour in support of labelmates Sea Girls, and was swiftly followed by a vinyl-only compilation of their first three EPs entitled 2.45. The summer brought APRE’s U.S. live debut, before a fourth EP — Guns Down — was issued in November. The same month, they released a one-off seasonal single, “Christmas Trees in the Rain.” In the new year, APRE embarked on their first headline tour before dropping a further four singles in spring and summer 2020. Their debut mini-album proper, Always in My Head, arrived before the end of the year. ~ James Wilkinson