Apostille

Glaswegian musician Michael Kasparis operates his solo electronic endeavor under the name Apostille. Establishing the Night School label in 2011 positioned him as a central figure in Glasgow’s indie community. That imprint quickly became an early home to emerging artists including Golden Grrrls, Molly Nilsson, and Terror Bird while also issuing archival material by Strawberry Switchblade and the band’s frontperson Rose McDowall. Even as he remained deeply engaged with the label alongside the more aggressive hardcore outfits Anxiety and the Lowest Form, Kasparis introduced Apostille material via a two-song 7" at the start of 2013. The recordings were starkly lo-fi and abrasive, pairing distorted programmed drums with howling synth lines that intertwined and countered his vocals, which sat submerged beneath heavy reverb. A string of cassette releases preceded the project’s first proper full-length, the 2015 LP Powerless, whose murky production veiled ’80s-inspired electro-funk basslines and synth textures. Choose Life, the 2018 successor, took a different approach, adopting a clearer mix that brought Kasparis’ brooding, misanthropic lyrics and his instinct for damaged pop melodies into sharper focus.