Please join us in welcoming back Ross Flournoy’s Apex Manor! Out May 31, Heartbreak City is a sonic spectacle that cleverly balances aggressive Dinosaur Jr.-esque guitars with dreamy synth work that’s reminiscent of The Cure, all mixed together with spirited instrumental performances, nuanced melodicism, and lyrics that swing wildly between being cryptic and being profound. 

Head to Paste for Heartbreak City’s rumble-drummed opener “Asked & Answered” before pre-ordering the album on CD or limited-edition blood red Peak Vinyl in the Merge store, or wherever records are sold.

Requiring less than two weeks of studio time to complete, it’s accurate to say that Heartbreak City was captured more than it was recorded due to the “everybody in the same room” live sessions featuring Flournoy on guitar and vocals, Dan Allaire (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) on drums, and Rob Barbato (Kevin Morby, Girlpool, Cass McCombs) on bass and production duties. In short, it’s everything there is to love about early ’90s pre-commercialized alternative rock but with a refreshingly modern absence of pretense or nostalgia. 

Flournoy also invited two of his musical friends to help add a few sonic splashes to some of the songs. Singer-songwriter Courtney Jaye can be heard adding ethereal background vocals to three tracks (“Diamond in the Dark,” “Sara Now,” and “Nervous Wreck”), while talented multi-instrumentalist Meg Duffy (Hand Habits, The War on Drugs, Kevin Morby) added some shimmering guitar work to “Diamond in the Dark” and “Sara Now.” “Rob had this weird, old-school approach where there was no punching in, so if we were seven-eighths of the way through a song and something fucked up, we did the whole thing again from the top,” laughs Flournoy. “Pretty much everything you hear on the record is one take.” 

As previously reported, Apex Manor will support and perform in Strand of Oaks on a run of dates in May. Flournoy has also announced the Heartbreak City release show at Bootleg Theater in LA on May 30, and will make an appearance at MRG30 in North Carolina this summer. More to come, so follow Apex Manor on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay in the Heartbreak City loop!

Apex Manor on tour:
May 01 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club*
May 02 Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon*
May 03 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall*
May 04 Indianapolis, IN – The Hi-Fi*
May 06 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom*
May 07 Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe*
May 30 Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater 
Jul 27 Carrboro, NC (MRG30)
* w/ Strand of Oaks