The Approbation LP

AVKRVST was founded by Martin Utby and Simon Bergseth – two musicians and friends who grew up together and made a pact that they would form a band when they got older. Now, 22 years later, an album is ready: 49 minutes of music inspired by everything they grew up listening to – everything from Mew, Anekdoten and Porcupine Tree to Opeth, Neal Morse and King Crimson. The Approbationis a concept album about a bleak soul who is left solely with his thoughts, isolated on a cabin deep into the dark forests, far away from civilization. The album takes the listener through the thoughts of a man struggling towards the acceptance of death, being hauled into the abyss. Sonically, ‘The Approbation’ is a massive sounding piece of music: It’s everything from lush, melancholy moods to heavy, more aggressive atmospheres. It tries to capture the feeling of a cold, gloomy fall – a dark sky, filled with gazing stars above the mist.