For the first time in over three months, it’s sunny and over seventy degrees outside, and I can feel, from the posts of my bed, the world around me buzzing with endorphins and the ubiquitous rain of Vitamin D. I pick the wrong mornings to sleep in; instead, I’m slumbering out of bed, listening to The Apache Relay’s “Can’t Wake Up.”
Born in 2009 in the notoriously strict confines of college dormitories, The Apache Relay ran with a vision of success infiltrating a world outside of Belmont Avenue. Since their inception, they’ve toured relentlessly across the states, steadily garnering a national attention for their dense and eclectic pop sound. Though the six-member band is rooted in Nashville, it is ever refreshing to see the consistent progress of spotlight they’re received in various spotlights, with publications such as Paste Magazine and Rolling Stone recognizing their effectual and evolving sound.
2011’s “American Nomad” foreshadows the extensive touring that The Apache Relay has undergone a grassroots campaign to spread their music, playing relentlessly across American landscapes to crowds that urge the appeal of their universal sounds. Though a dose of rootsy Americana and bluesy folk weaves its way through the album, The Apache Relay uses echoing electric reverb and incremental layers to create unified, symphonic tracks. It would be easy to classify a band that features a mandolin and has opened for Mumford and Sons as folk-rock, but the rich and heavy elements of rock n’ roll supersede the idea of genre-pitting The Apache Relay into any particular class. Tracks like “Watering Hole” showcase the soulful falsettos of which Michael Ford Jr. is capable; “When I Come Home” slides the acoustic bends into a tight chamber of classically brooding sound.
Earlier this season, The Apache Relay released the first single off their heavily anticipated April Release, Katie Queen of Tennessee. The track premiered on Rolling Stone, and features a matured version of the anthemic and quirky, tonally precise pop-rock sound the group for which the group has thus far been known. Most recently, The Apache Relay released their video for “Don’t Leave Me Now,” a beautiful collection of realistic scenes that haunt and shape daily life, from familiar strife to the feelings of interminability that strike up teenage heartache. The song itself is a catchy and nostalgic tune harkening back to the days of tight and whimsical early pop. In support of their album release on April 22, The Apache Relay is co-headlining a tour with one of our other local favorites, The Weeks. Catch them in Nashville on April 12 at the Marathon Music Works Block Party.
Watch the video for “Don’t Leave Me Now” here.
Lockeland Springsteen 