Tag Archives: Cambridgeshire

03.20.21
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Apteekii – What’s Real? & Secrets.

Regular readers of Sonic Breakfast will know that I’ve been drawn to tales of adaptation and flexibility in the past months. The last year has been a global nightmare and many of us have just put our heads in our hands and screamed at it all. There’s nothing wrong with that. Others have used the shit situation to their advantage; they’ve got on with things despite the bum set of cards dealt. Those people deserve much respect.

I suspect that David Gane falls into that camp. A touring technician for some top stars (Lana Del Rey anyone), the collapse of the live industry hit him hard. But, to fill that void, he got in touch with mates, Mark and Matt, to jump-start a fledgling project back into life. The world now has two tracks from Apteekii to savour with a full EP to follow next month. Ever up for the challenge, the entire EP was recorded remotely with the trio being in separate locations; David and Mark are just down the road from here in Cambridge with Matt residing up in Stamford.

 

You wouldn’t know that this is the product of different studios; there are no obvious cracks in the seams with Apteekii. Take the first song of theirs that I heard – What’s Real’s a neat comment about fake news and the ridiculousness of Donald Trump. It’s impeccably performed pop, a statement that says we’re confident in what we’re doing and we think you’ll approve. Apteekii’s most recent single, Secrets, grows from this base; an enduring riff and a song all about the moment when living a lie becomes too much. 

Apteekii get their name from the Finnish word for ‘pharmacy’. “We like the idea of music being a medicine, and bands or artists taking on the role as a kind of drug store/pharmacy.“, they mention in their press releases. I like that idea as well. These two tracks are definitely painkillers; sometimes soothing and always offering a decent distraction from the difficult stuff that’s going on. 

 

03.05.21
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Jon Sandman – Selfless Isolation

Something that’s struck me over the past few months is how creative and resilient people have been over the last year. You only have to do a quick scan of a few recent Sonic Breakfast posts to realise that the shit conditions many artists find themselves in have also helped them to create great work. They’ve been able to push out of their comfort zones and to realise their dreams. It’s almost become a ‘now or never’ mentality. 

It’s hard to believe that Jon Sandman has rarely performed his music live before, so assured does he sound on recent release, ‘Selfless Isolation’. But that’s what Jon confirms in our E-mail exchange. 

“When lockdown eases, I really wanna get onto the open mic scene.“, says Jon. “I’ve only been releasing music since the pandemic hit, I’ve never performed any of my music live, so I think that getting into my local live music scene is the next big step for me.”

You can’t help thinking that the open mic scenes in Oxford and Cambridgeshire will lap Jon up with open arms. ‘Selfless Isolation’ is a gem; literate, immediate and reflective, it chronicles the range of feelings I guess we’ve all been privy to over the last year. “Selfless Isolation’ is my ‘Ode to COVID’; a reflection on a year of loneliness.“, notes Jon. “It’s gently political – a rebuke to those responsible – but also deeply personal. Lyrically, I think that it’s a song that a lot of people will connect to.”

Jon cites Sufjan Stevens as his biggest influence whilst also noting that Beirut, Spoon and the more electronic sounds of Big Black Delta, Metronomy, Miami Horror and Passion Pit all play their part. It’s an impressive array, a wide range of stuff. You can see some of that influence seeping through in ‘Selfless Isolation’, a folk tune with nods towards Father John Misty and Louis Brennan. Both creator and consumer, Jon reveals that he’s “always looking for cool new bands to check out!“.

Sonic Breakfast continues to profile cool acts on a daily basis. Jon Sandman has used this time of isolation to become one of them.