Apostille – Choose Life

After a couple of years being one of the most thrilling live acts out there, sadly Anxiety recently called it quits. Part of that was due to frontman Michael Kasparis – a well-known figure within the Glasgow music scene through the running of his own Night School Records label as well as his role in the London-based hardcore band The Lowest Form – who was an endlessly engaging presence front and centre for the noise-punks.

Initially, at least, Apostille – Kasparis' solo project – wasn't a million miles away from his bands. On his self-released debut Powerless, he took to the harsher end of electronic noise and composition performing his vocals live as if he were still fronting three or four other equally loud musicians all jostling for attention. However, on Kasparis' follow-up record as Apostille, we find a more 80s synth-pop inspired set of tracks that is sure to win the hearts of wider audiences over the summer months.

Like all of the best pop music, Choose Life appears upbeat and summery on the surface, but underneath bubbles an anxiety and tension most audiences have come to know Kasparis for. Opener, Fly With the Dolphin is a statement of intent, a pulsing industrial sounding manifesto of what to expect hereon, while lead-single Feel Bad is a brilliant pop song about, well, feeling bad. As the album progresses, Kasparis doesn't completely abandon the more challenging aspects of the sound we've come to expect, culminating in a montage-piece finale perfectly summing up this album of the same name.

Listen to: Fly With the Dolphin, Feel Bad, Choose Life