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Apollo Sunshine
By ADA HUTCHINSON
del.ico.us
reddit!
Apollo Sunshine are some hippie-dippy mofos. It doesn't matter what in the hell I say though, because the trio has crafted one of the year's best albums: Shall Noise Upon. It's the third release from the group which was once based right here in Boston. One of them remains, vocalist/keyboardist/bassist Jesse Gallagher, and in the friendly confines of Inman Square no less.
"A wise man once said: 'We are the universe becomes aware that we are the universe becoming aware of itself [sic],'" Gallagher writes to me in an email from Venus. "Apollo Sunshine is interested in harmony and how to create more of it."
Their third album is surely their most accomplished, filled with epic songs and friendly contributions from the likes of our own Drug Rug and Edan, but also Brooklyn-types like White Flight and Ratatat. "Unification and universal awareness has always been a goal of ours." Critically, Apollo Sunshine has gripped all camps: NPR as well as JamBase, the New York Times as much as Spin. "A higher and higher attunement of our consciousness has helped us relate the love and understanding we try to convey in song."
The love comes through on "Honestly," which was partially recorded at the Lily Pad in Cambridge. Over a shimmying Brazilian backbeat, they sing of false dangers and turning off the TV (and sometimes in Spanish), but most importantly (and in soaring harmony) the trio sings of "love, honestly." Elsewhere, more anarchic messages come through. "I wonder what I'd do," they sing, "if everyone forgot what money was?" "Money," recorded at the Wonderful Spells' practice space in Allston with Carter Tanton (Tulsa), has a decidedly Workingman's Dead style. "Would we still play guitars?" they ask each other hypothetically. "Yeah, we'd still play guitars!"
Gallagher: "We are living thru [sic] such an exciting age right now. There is so much out there to learn, so much ancient knowledge that is becoming available to all for the first time," he writes, perhaps alluding to the Mayan prophecy of 2012. "The truth is slowly and quickly seeping itself into everything that we do ... and it's wonderful."
[Shall Noise Upon became available on CD, Tuesday 9.2.08. The group plays an in-store at Newbury Comics Harvard Square, Saturday 9.13.08 at 7pm. 36 JFK St., Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 617.491.0337. Free. apollosunshine.com]
