Apse

Apse emerged in Newtown, Connecticut, during 1999 as a high-school trio whose avant-garde post-rock carried an eerie, boundary-free atmosphere. Guitarist Robert Toher, drummer Ezer Lichtenstein, and bassist Ryan Todd made up the founding members. Their debut EP was captured by 2001, the same period when fellow student Aaron Piccirillo came aboard on guitar. Two additional EPs soon followed. Michael Gundlach entered on guitar in spring 2003, at which point Toher also assumed the role of vocalist, delivering the band’s ethereal singing. Later that year the group signed with the Spanish imprint Acuarela Discos and began preparing material that surfaced as a self-titled EP in early 2005. Matthew Wick was subsequently brought in as a second drummer to expand the live percussion section. By summer 2005 Ryan Todd and Wick had departed; Aaron Piccirillo moved to bass while Albert Gray joined on guitar. The full-length album Spirit appeared in late 2006. The next year Austin Stawiarz and John Mordecai replaced Gray and Piccirillo on guitar and bass, respectively, enabling the band to undertake a European tour and complete the limited-edition EP Eraas. In 2008 Toher and Gundlach relocated to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, prompting the exits of Stawiarz and Lichtenstein; Jed Armour and Brandon Collins then joined on guitar and drums. Eraas finally saw release in 2009, presenting a more focused iteration of the group’s sound that carried over into the second album, Climb Up, issued later that year. Throughout 2010 Apse maintained an active touring schedule and added longtime associate Daniel Sobo on keyboards and auxiliary instruments, yet the lineup dissolved in early 2011. Toher and Stawiarz subsequently formed the stylistically kindred outfit also named Eraas.