Bicep - Apricots - Single and Video Review

Over the last decade, Irish duo Bicep have established themselves as one of the most innovative and exciting electronic acts to hear live, or straight through your headphones vibing in your bedroom.

Their self-titled debut arrived only in 2017, demonstrated their abilities after years of DJing and promoting obscure or forgotten disco and electronic tracks on their blog ‘Feel My Bicep’. Following up their debut, Bicep are set to release second LP ‘Isles’ in 2021, and have already dropped two singles from it, ‘Atlas’ and more recently ‘Apricots’.

The video for ‘Apricots’ channels the quick rush of the song. Shot on a film camera that grants the image a textured retro feel, nature flows in and out of motion like the shore on a beach. Rocks spin in time with the rhythmic vocals and drum kicks, bubbles and reeds underwater pulsate with the crackling high-pitched synth, the faces of various people move rapidly as if they were maniacally dancing to the music.

Whilst there is a lot going on in the video, it never pushes as far as feeling overwhelming. There’s also a sense of time that runs through the video, with the rocks and shells eventually succumbing to the inevitable progression of days, months, years, and decades. In the video for previous hit single ‘Glue’, Bicep explored this by showing deserted sites that used to hold infamous raves, contrasted with on screen stories immortalised in the memories of those who were at them. ‘Apricots’ takes a different approach, exploring time in its simplest, and most destructive form.

As is the case with all of their music, ‘Apricots’ evidences Bicep’s skill of making music without any pretense, music that exists purely as something for people to dance, and even lose their minds, to. They seem to possess a deep understanding of good electronic music’s power to transcend sound and become almost objectified, filling space like a constantly morphing liquid, and extending time into an infinite loop. Containing this within a 4 minute video is not an easy task, but that feels very much achieved on ‘Apricots’.

- Huwen Edwards

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