From recording in the back room of a chess club to releasing their debut EP The Movement of Time in 2018, alternative pop duo Charlie Brown and Jules Konieczny, collectively known as APRE, have come a long way since then and are back with a mini-album – Always In My Head.  The duo have amassed more than 230K followers on Spotify, the modern marker of how popular an artist is. Alt-pop offers a stripped back, DIY melody and is the perfect genre to listen to in your bedroom with the lights down low when you are in your feels; with the likes of Wallows, Clairo and Glass Animals leading the way currently. Compared to The Movement of Time, Always In My Head is a breath of fresh air in the brief portfolio of APRE and provides listeners with the perfect soundtrack to their day with funky and rich beats and perfected ballad-like lyrics.

With eight carefully constructed tracks, the project is able to deliver on its rollercoaster of emotions and the lyrics easily create a story that listeners can pick up and undoubtedly keep with them after they have finished listening. Always In My Head begins briskly with ‘Bad Boys,’ throwing you straight into the feeling of driving through a deserted city late at night with your best friends, introducing the prominent theme of relationships and the pursuit of happiness that flows neatly through the whole album. A catchy drum beat stands out in ‘I Know I’ll Find It,’ making the constantly repeated question of ‘What are you looking for?’ resonate directly with you and once again, love stands out as the leading theme that matches the emotional and heavy-hearted tracks that line the album.

The next ballad, the second single released at the beginning of September 2020 and originally performed at Glastonbury in 2019, ‘Without Your Love’ presents fast but effective lyrics that blend neatly into the chorus; ‘Without your love, we’re miles apart / So go take your love and leave me in the dark.’ It’s worth mentioning the accompanying music video that provides APRE fans with not only an underrated track but amazingly aesthetic visuals with warm, cosy colours as a background to quirky images, like two lovers wearing lampshades on their heads, ballroom dancing. Sharing its name with the Lionel Richie classic, ‘Hello,’ APRE begin this track quite generically with a slow beat that ceases to pick up until a while into the song, but the sometimes odd lyrics (‘force feed your cat’) are soon joined by a joyful guitar that carries the song to its finish without dropping back down to the sombre beginning to the song.

In the second half of the album, ‘Live It Up,’ is reinforced by another brilliant music video, transforms the mood and really twists the melancholic undertones of the first half of Always In My Head; the vocals begin to come across much stronger and really achieve the objective of boosting your mood. The title track ‘Always In My Head’ is slightly underwhelming, which is a trap many artists can often fall into and maybe if it had the same beat as ‘Live It Up,’ then it potentially may have been the song to remember from the mini-album. The synthetic 80s-esque beat of ‘Is That Really What You Live For’ is instrumental in picking up from where ‘Always In My Head’ struggles to capture your attention and is the perfect penultimate track as it begins to refine the confident notes that we hear at the beginning and brings the album into its final descent before the final track. ‘Grab My Hand’ is the perfect ending to Always In My Head and sounds very much alike the funkiness of APRE’s debut EP The Movement of Time, reminding us retrospectively of where the duo have come from and how the emotions of that EP are still just as raw in this mini-album. 

Always In My Head will definitely be the record that will carry you through lockdown and the winter ahead. The joyful nature, alongside the ballad-like lyrics, of APRE’s project means that it is an essential listen after a long day when you just need to relax in your room and hear mellow vibrations. Whilst some of the tracks fall flat, there’s always a track either side of it to pick the vibe back up and ensure that the meaning of the mini-album isn’t lost. Always In My Head is most definitely worth the listen if you are new to the genre or you have listened to APRE before but have not really listened to them intensively. I promise you, Always In My Head will flood you with serotonin and if that does not convince you, then I am not sure what will. 

Rating: 6/10 

Always In My Head is available now via Polydor Records

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