Every band seeks that career defining moment that propels their profile to new heights and for Acres, that moment is now. Their new EP 'In Sickness & Health' takes their ambient, post-hardcore sound to new levels, revealing the quintet's most impressive work to date, and signalling that this band means business.
‘In Sickness & Health’ excels with an accomplished and mature sound, something the band has been refining over the course of their five year life. Guitarist Alex Freeman explains: “we formed off the back of an instrumental project our guitarist started. Essentially we started as a screamo band and our first EP was us trying to find a sound that worked for us. We were definitely influenced by A Hope For Home, Devil Sold His Soul, Rinoa, This Will Destroy you and Underoath. And all of those bands have definitely shaped our sound and a few of them are still huge inspirations.”
The act’s debut, self-titled EP established the band’s foundations and the succession of tours that followed shaped the outcome of their follow-up record: “we joke that after touring Germany with a bunch of post metal and doom bands, Solace was definitely influenced by that.”
2015 was a defining moment for the band; a year that started with the departure of their original vocalist, leading to a period of instrumental writing for six months, before Ben Lumber was announced as the new singer. With another new member joining the band since as well, the change has been a catalyst for creativity: “the two new members have definitely changed things. The songs on [‘In Sickness & Health’] weren’t written for the style of vocalist we have now with Ben, so it’s become its own monster; the happiest accident!”
With so much growth and change over the past few years, this latest EP acts as a moment of solidarity for the band, who are now looking to the future with a renewed line-up and direction. ‘In Sickness & Health’ “is really just us flexing with our new vocalist, Ben. A lot of the people that listened to our band before we changed vocalist were definitely dubious and we want people to know that actually he can do everything Acres were doing before, and more. It’s got the heaviest songs we’ve written on here and some of the lightest.”
The musical quality of the record is matched by the strength of the production, performed by Jonny Renshaw, of Devil Sold His Soul. “Jonny recorded the tracks and mixed all the instruments. He approached us after he came to see us play in Bristol a few years ago and obviously we weren’t going to say no because Devil Sold His Soul were a huge inspiration.”
Acres’ well-rounded sound has attracted the interests of more than just their peers. ‘In Sickness & Health’ was co-released with Dream Atlantic Records and behind the scenes, the band are in discussions with other potential labels. Despite the internet giving rise to more bands going down the self-release route, Acres still believe in the traditional label model: “it’s definitely true that you can go it alone and still get to where you want to be but I think labels are great for enabling a band to do things they could never dream of doing/affording if they didn’t have that support.”
Part of that support model includes enabling bands to widen their net overseas, both in terms of promotion and touring opportunities. In their five year life as a band, Acres have been no strangers to the road, amassing an impressive number of shows across Europe. “We love Europe. We’ve made a bunch of friends and had the best times travelling the continent. I don’t think we’ve ever had a tour where we didn’t have a great time. Personally my favourite tours I’ve done there have been our Headline run with Canvas in 2015 and then supporting Burning Down Alaska with Casey last year. They were both incredible.”
When it comes to choosing between touring and labouring away in the studio, Alex is undecided: “They’re so different that I love them both for different reasons. Shows are great for atmosphere; we try giving it our all every night because we want the people to know that these song mean as much to us as it does to them. And the studio is amazing because we can hear your ideas that you had at 4AM come to life and sound better than ever before with the help of someone who really knows what they’re talking about. Both are extremely rewarding in completely different ways.”
The split of Acres’ time will continue to be a balance through 2017 between the studio and on tour. The band have a new album in the works, which they hope to release this year, as well as a tour with Hellions across the UK.
‘In Sickness & Health’ is available to purchase on Bandcamp and you can read our review of the record here.