Apiaries is the musical project for Erik Harms. The project started in 2014 after taking a hiatus from music. Prior to Apiaries Harms was in a band called Picture Books that released two EP’s. Neighborhood Ghosts is the first EP from Harms that has an indie folk vibe which mixes organic and electronic elements.
He opens with “Spiteful Crow” which is an instrumental song. The song takes its time building mostly on atmospheric elements for the first minute before introducing percussive elements. The energy is increased but before you know it the song goes into another more subdued part before building once again with layers of synth and guitar. I was somewhat startled by the beginning of “Social” because of the increase in volume and the difference on the sonic imprint. The song is driven by a distorted bass and percussion. He sings on this song which made enough of a difference in the emotional impact. On that note there weren’t really any vocal hooks in the song. Harms preferred to go for instrumental interludes instead. Up next is “Neighborhood Ghosts” which was the first song that really got my attention. The vocal melodies were not only more memorable but the flow of the song felt more organic and fluid with dynamic changes. Harms sings, “Say you remember our neighborhoods. Will our faces haunt the spaces we once stood? Or have I forgotten?”. “No Light / No Time” stated off very promising. I was immediately drawn in by the vocal performance and guitar. As much as I enjoyed the verse I still felt like it needed one notable change to a hook, chorus or even outro but instead goes into instrumental parts. I was reminded of the The Shins on this song in particular. “Lake Monster” was the other highlight besides “Neighborhood Ghosts.” The vocals were strong and so were the transitions which were dynamic and engaging. Harms definitely has an indie rock vibe alongside bands like Pavement, Built for Spill and Broken Social Scene. I often felt like Harms was on the precipice of getting into a similar creative space as those bands and could bring the infectious melodies and exceptional songwriting that make those bands so undeniably talented. As an engineer I have to say this was a case where I think sending off the finished mixes to a mastering engineer would have helped quite a bit. The quality was lo-fi which I was fine with but wanted the mixes opened more than they were. Overall, there is a lot to enjoy on Neighborhood Ghosts although I think his best work might still be ahead of him.
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