Reserfiction is the recording project of multi-instrumentalist musician Joe Usher. Coming from Brighton, UK, Usher writes and produces all the music heard on his first full-length project Apollo. He draws inspiration from influences such as Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem and My Bloody Valentine. The album was all recorded in Logic Pro X, although live drums were played on a couple of tracks. Others are a bit more traditional using looped and/or programmed drums. Usher states that he tries to avoid using too much compression and to let sounds "breathe" by leaving some of the mistakes in. This he defines as the old definition to "lo-fi" where the poor recording quality and “humanity of the recordings” give the sounds character and life, which in his view, a lot of music is missing today.
While the recording is instrumental in nature, Usher used his voice as an instrument on many of the tracks. He states that he wanted to focus on crafting the tracks and producing them, getting familiar with this aspect of the recording, so when he implements more vocals in later albums, he’ll feel more comfortable doing so. The recording happened over a couple of months, but it was only in the last three weeks of the process that he decided to complete the project. This short collection of songs begins with “Magenta Sky” a just under two-minute track, filled with lo-fi “chill” beats, repeating acoustic melodies and haunting background echoes, all recorded on an iPhone. One of the first songs written is “Thunderstorms” which was done using live drums. The beginning is humming and mellow, somewhat garbled, while the drums have a shoegaze style to them. Usher adds more of those ethereal and “haunting-like” melodies, giving the song more textures and space. The outro ends the song with a few acoustic chords. Giving the album a more “spontaneous” appeal is “Constellations” – a track filled with edgier lo-fi beats, a nice, light piano melody and “choir-like” vocals that Usher layered and “chopped up differently” creating a rich texture of sounds. Encouraged by the artist to listen to this one with headphones on, “Surround” is one of the shorter songs on the album and, according to Usher, his most abstract. His guitar work blends very well, becoming more of echoing a “wall of sound” rather than resembling the sound of a guitar. There isn’t much to this one overall, and I’d agree. It’s pretty trippy and floats along like undulating clouds. More live drum work can be heard on “Rainfall” which according to the musician, “was a pain, but fun.” It also happens to be the only song on the album with lyrics, albeit very few. The beginning starts slow and rather moody, but not in a dark way – meaning there are no minor chords played here. The track does feel like it swells into louder sounds, more alive and climatic, and just when you think a chord change will happen, the song ends. Next up is “Serenity” – another take on the artists’ lo-fi/bedroom pop and shoegaze style. This one had a romantic feel about it. The bass and guitar/synths sounds were rich and full. The song evoked images as if one were floating in space. Very atmospheric, in other words. Rounding out the album is “Applewater,” what Usher calls his “most ambitious track” which took him a lot of time to compose as this was a song primarily written on the piano. Sounds of thunder can be heard in the background with additional keyboards adding some accompaniment. It’s a nice ending track, and it seemed an appropriate place for it here. On the whole, I enjoyed Reserfiction’s Apollo. It reminds me of the soundscape instrumental stuff the DJ hosts play on radio shows Echoes and Hearts of Space. So, if you’re into that, I think you’ll like Joe Usher’s work.
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