Apogee (band)

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Apogee
General information
Genre (s) Progressive rock
founding 1995
Website apogee.versus-x.de
Founding members
Vocals , all instruments
except drums
 Arne Schäfer
Current occupation
Vocals , all instruments
except drums
 Arne Schäfer
Guest musician
Drums
 Uwe Völlmar
Drums
 Thomas Reiner
Drums
 Eberhard Graef

Apogee is the solo project of Versus X singer and guitarist Arne Schäfer .

history

The name Apogee for came about in 1995 when the band Versus X entered into a cooperation with the French recording company Musea to distribute their first CD . Musea was also interested in the publication of some of the resulting over the years solo recordings by Arne Schaefer, the lead singer and guitarist of Versus X . Apogee was ultimately chosen as the artist name.

At Apogee, Arne Schäfer plays most of the instruments of a typical progressive rock band (electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, keyboards) one after the other using software in a multi-track process and sings most of the songs, sometimes with several voices.

On the first two CDs "The Border of Awareness" and "Sisyphos" he programmed the drum accompaniment with the help of samples, while on the later releases the Versus X drummers Uwe Völlmar and Thomas Reiner, and currently Arne's brother-in-law Eberhard Gräf, operate the acoustic drum set .

Musically, Apogee is similar to the music of Versus X and nowadays can best be described as retro-prog, which is based on the classic albums of progressive rock from the 70s, influenced by bands such as B. Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, ELP, but also by classical and modern composers as well as orchestral film music. The length of the complex compositions is often beyond the 10-minute limit and Arne Schäfer often uses mystical moods and odd time signatures.

Compared to Versus X, Apogee's music contains fewer keyboard arpeggios, but more vocals and guitar work with improvised guitar solos and many orchestral arranged passages. The structural structure of the compositions is also more song-oriented than in Versus X.

The Apogee CDs "The Border of Awareness", "Sisyphos", "The Garden of Delights", "Mystery Remains" and "Waiting for the Challenge" have been released by Musea Records (www.musearecords.com) in France.

The current album "The Art of Mind" was released in 2015 by Progressive Promotion Records (www.progressive-promotion.de).

Furthermore, several early works by Arne Schäfer have been published, the recording periods of which are before the first Apogee CD. The album "On the Aftertaste" contains a compilation of recordings from the period between 1988 and 1995 as well as a long track from the time of the "Sisyphos" album. "Die Gläserne Wand & Schleifen" are two rock suites sung in German from 1987 and 1988, which were released in 2006 on Mellow Records (www.mellowrecords.com) in Italy.

The album “Out of the Darkness” contains a collection of earlier songs that Arne Schäfer recorded between 1986 and 1988 using very simple recording technology. This album is an in-house production and is only available on the Versus X website (Versus X Shop).

Discography

  • 1995: The Border of Awareness
  • 1998: Sisyphus
  • 2001: Out of the Darkness
  • 2001: The Glass Wall & Loops
  • 2003: The Garden of Delights
  • 2006: On the aftertaste
  • 2009: Mystery Remains
  • 2012: Waiting for the Challenge
  • 2015: The Art of Mind

Web links