Apparatjik - Square Peg In A Round Hole

Elaborate. Surely no other adjective describes ‘Square Peg In A Round Hole’, super group Apparatjik’s second album, any better. The band (Coldplay’s Guy Berryman, Mew’s Jonas Bjerre, A-ha’s Magne Furuholmen and producer Martin Terefe) first came together for a charity album and their debut ‘We Are Here’ surprised many critics. Originally released as an iPad app, Mother Nature cultivated further releases of their second full length through the band’s agreeneryouniverse project: the album would only be properly released once 1000 fans planted trees and sent pictures to the project’s website. As you read this, this’ll be the tenth (yes tenth!) production spurred on by fan support. If you’re an existing fan however, such a method of release won’t surprise you. This is the band that, amongst other visual novelties, projects their faces onto a giant cube at most of their shows.

No surprise then that this album has equally as bizarre moments. A minute and a half of industrial drilling ploughs through ‘Pakt’ before it’s slowed by gleaming pads recalling ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’’s more lucid moments. Echoes of Jonas Bjerre’s Mew seep through ‘(Don’t Eat The Whole) Banana’ whilst his own alien-like voice, as the name suggests, repeatedly urges about the dangers of eating the yellow fruit. ‘Combat Disco Music,’ meanwhile, is a funky rehash of the Virgins had the New York four-piece fed their music on a diet of cheesy science-fiction.

The best part is that, unlike most super groups, Apparatjik actually sound like a decent band. There’s no doubt Coldplay’s Guy Berryman will be the main selling point here but he never takes the spotlight, comfortably passing the bat to Bjerre and Furuholmen. Berryman takes vocal command on ‘Cervux Sequential’ only to be overtaken by Furuholmen’s thick synths which should appease the most ardent Daft Punk fan, as should ‘your voice needS SUBtitles’, the obtuse blips of ‘timepoLice’, and the repetitive kicks of ‘Tell The Babes.’ Further on, the clean beats of ‘Blastlocket’ and the minimal, discotheque synths of ‘Signs Of Waking Up’ fuse seamlessly with Bjerre’s trademark glacial fingerprint. Not that it’ll happen anytime soon, but should their main projects ever fall through, Apparatjik should be the perfect safety net for each member to fall back on.