Artist Spotlight: kid apollo

An expressive and striking trio who have emerged from South London this year, kid apollo continue to stake their claim on the alternative scene with ‘i been up to things I don’t think I should be.’

The perfect addition to the new wave hybrid of hip hop/ R&B/ indie that the likes of Berwyn and Easy Life have championed over the last few years, it is incredibly difficult to box these lads into a particular style or genre. The trio, to me, seem to lean closer into an infatuation with creating mood; exploring how music can make you feel so much. They are very successful at doing so, often in quite a literal and simplistic way. 

Their new body of work is an epitomisation of this appeal. Jimmy HM’s delicate, cathartic vocals weaves through vivid and retrospective tales of love and young adulthood, with wistful and subtle instrumentation and modernistic production from twin brothers Felix and Theo the nuanced canvas. The EP is startlingly emotionally assured and, at times, terrifically heartrending. 

I sat down with kid apollo to discuss their influences the creative process, the excellent new EP, and future plans for their sound. 

What is the group's origins? When did you first start making tunes together?

We all met early at school and sort of figured out our similar taste in music. We started messing about and writing age 15/16 just in a very basic bedroom setup after school and really just continued making music since. 

Who is influencing you musically at the moment?

Right now we really fuck with people like Berwyn, cityboymoe and Dexter. Also American artists like Brandon and Dijon are big influences. Just sonically we like the way all these artists sit.

How do you use your influences to enhance and shape your sound?

We think the best way to use influences is to find the small parts that really connect with us, whether that be sonically or lyrically, and then use these parts to help form our own unique sound.

What is your writing process? Do you share the production duties? 

Our writing process is really relaxed. There’s no set roles so we all chip in on production and melodies, but the majority of lyrics are written by Jimmy.

You guys are definitely set to play a major part in the extension of crossing generic boundaries. Do you consider yourself as fitting into a style or do you think that your sound is genreless?

We definitely don’t feel confined to one genre and similarly to our artist influence, we feel that we just naturally pick the parts of each genre that we like and use them to make a sound that connects best with us.

For me, your music feels more focused on the encapsulation of mood rather than attempting to fulfil stylistic expectation. Would you agree?

For the most part yes, a song is more often than not just how we’re feeling in a specific moment. 

Why have you opted for, in general, such a wistful, melancholy sound? Does it represent your personas, or do you use music as a much needed form of emotional expression?

It’s really just a reflection of the different feelings we have. (Jimmy) The reason why the music mostly falls into that sort of mood lyrically is probably just because that’s the side of me that I feel most.

The writing feels drawn from the experiences of a young adult, touching on references to clubbing, romance, heartache. Do you always write from experience, and what made you opt for such literal, relatable topics?

(Jimmy) Yes, the songs all draw from experience, or what someone close to me has experienced. I like to be subtle lyrically so that there’s enough room for the song to directly mean something to me but if a listener wants to fit it into their own story, they can. I feel that this is an important part of the music.

How does it feel to have finally released your EP into the world?

Yh, it's sick. It’s cool to have a body of work out that people can fuck with and really take in.

What are the themes/concepts behind the new EP?

We draw from our experiences living in London. We touch on the upsides and downsides of different relationships and everything that comes with that.

The title track ‘i been up to things I don’t think I should be’ is a stand out moment in my opinion, with real emotional potency. What’s the story behind the song? 

The song talks about feeling stuck in something that you don’t feel is positive for either person, when the bad is starting to outweigh the good - ‘I give you all my time, But you ain’t felt alright in so long’. As a result, you find yourself out late too often, meeting new people in new places to help take your mind off of the shit that’s going on elsewhere rather than facing the issue upfront.

I love the video - your video concepts are always so interesting, where do the ideas originate and how do you bring it to life?

This is pretty similar to our writing process, we all just bounce ideas off each other and eventually figure out a set vision. Obviously, some songs naturally give us a clearer visual direction than others but when we have an idea, it’s just about making it come to life and always making sure it’s exactly what we set out for it to be.

If you were introducing yourself to a new listener who had never heard of your tunes before, what song would you play?

‘let go of things i said’

I feel like there is a hell of a lot to come from you. What can you tell us about your plans for musical direction, do you plan on experimenting with your style a lot? 

Our plan is to keep writing and experimenting with our sound really. We’ve already got lots of new music we’ve been working on and it’s cool to hear how it’s progressing in different ways from our first EP

What’s next for you? More music soon / live shows?

At the moment we are just focused on making more music and developing our sound. In terms of live shows, we’re just taking our time to make sure that when we have a set ready, it gives an added experience. But keep posted for something soon.