The Aphelion
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The Aphelion – Five Questions With

Canada’s THE APHELION Put A Prog Metal Spin On Human Vulnerability w/ New Single “Fragility”

Ottawa, Canada’s progressive metal titans The Aphelion are thrilled to announce the release of their latest single “Fragility” from their eagerly awaited concept album Nascence, which will be available on August 9, 2024. The single is a cross-section of influences from classical music to Radiohead, to musical theatre, while still stepping heavily into the band’s love of more contemporary progressive metal and they comment:

“Fragility is where the first real cracks in the protagonist’s psyche begin to form. The man awakens one morning remembering nothing but violence, and yet his wife lays sleeping peacefully next to him and nothing is out of place. He begins to wonder if he has had a vision of death, and whether it was his death or hers that he saw, and fears that the worst has yet to come. Musically, the song is a blend of classical orchestration, art rock sensibilities, and heavy riffs.”

In the single, The Aphelion wanted to capture the essence of vulnerability that we all experience. “Fragility” is a testament to the beauty and strength found in our weakest moments. To them, it’s a track that resonates on a deeply personal level, both musically and lyrically. As part of the Nascence album, it serves as a crucial piece in the overarching narrative that explores themes of philosophy and the human condition.

The intrepid group of Evan Haydon-Selkirk (lead vocals, bass guitar, keyboard), James Cabral (guitar, keyboard), Tyler Davis (guitar, backing vocals), and Nathanael Livingstone (drums, percussion) have cemented their place in the Canadian progressive metal scene through nearly a decade of intense collaboration and dynamic live performances. They are recommended listening for fans of Leprous, Opeth, and Between the Buried and Me.

First off care to introduce yourself to our readers?

Evan: Hello your readers! My name is Evan Haydon-Selkirk and I’m the vocalist, bassist, and occasional live keyboardist for the Canadian progressive metal band the Aphelion.

Tell us a bit about your recent release.

Evan: We’ll be releasing the first part of a two-part record on August 9th. The album is called Nascence, and it as well as part 2, Senescence, are the product of about five years of hard work writing, learning, recording, and producing. It really took off in 2020 when that unspeakable thing happened that forced us all to stay home, as both James (guitar, keyboards, co-songwriter) and myself had much more time to write, and with everything going on in the world, much more motivation to. It’s a big proggy concept album about existentialism and mental illness and we’re all just so excited we’re finally able to start sharing it with the world!

How do you typically go about the songwriting process? Do you have a specific method or creative routine that you follow?

Evan: Traditionally someone, usually James or myself, will present a finished sketch to the band with rough arrangements of everyone’s parts. Once we all agree a song is worth working on, we learn what’s there and start working on it together in the jam room. Sometimes songs change quite a bit in this stage, but sometimes it only takes minor tweaking of individual parts for it to sound like an Aphelion song! For this album, I had planned out the major story beats not long after hearing the first demo James showed me all the way back in 2016, and so once we were ready to start work on our next record after the release of the Labour Division, we put a lot of effort into creating a sort of soundtrack that would represent each story beat. As songs were assigned to a specific part of the story, I would begin writing lyrics that would over time flesh the story out and give it more direction.

Looking ahead, what are your plans for supporting this new release? Are there any upcoming tours, music videos, or additional content that fans can look forward to in connection with this Project?

Evan: Well we’re pushing it as hard as we can online at the moment, and we’ve got some shows coming up later this year and next year that I can’t talk about just yet! However, we are playing an album release show in our hometown of Ottawa with Raphael Weinroth-Browne and Sovereign Council, both of whom we’re really excited to be playing with! That’ll be August 9th, but if you follow us on the internet at @theaphelionband wherever you get your internet, you can keep up with our show announcements! We’re also planning on filming the album release show, which will be super cool!

Looking back on your musical career, is there a particular moment or accomplishment that you consider a turning point or a highlight?

Evan: If you ask any of us, our first answer is gonna be getting to open up for Protest the Hero at the Bronson Center in Ottawa! We played to nearly 1000 people and we were on right before Protest played so the audience was absolutely ravenous. I’ll never forget the feeling of hearing and seeing that many people reacting to our music. That said, if you want an answer nobody’s heard before, I’d say an accomplishment that felt like a turning point to me was hearing the final tracks on this record. There was so much growth between The Labour Division (2018) and now, but none of it felt tangible until I got to hear the songs outside of demo form and kinda went “Okay, I think we really have something here!”

Last but not least, it’s time to pay it forward, what upcoming band or artist would you recommend your fans check out?

Evan: So many people! You should check out our friends Ashbreather and Voidchaser for sure. We just got off of a small run with them, we’ll likely be doing more dates together in the near future, and they’re so awesome! There’s also Finely Tuned Elephant, who are some incredible jazz fusion guys and dear friends of ours, Sovereign Council, Dead Centuries, and too many incredible locals to list really.

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