APOGEE is the well established side Project by Versus X singer, guitarist and composer Arne Schäfer. The Art of Mind is the eigth APOGEE album and invites the listener to follow a highly emotional, complex and adventurous journey through the history of progressive rock. APOGEE music is complex progressive rock based on the great progressive music of the seventies but often emerging out of the established rock field in various directions. The musical influences of APOGEE´s music are covering a wide range of styles from classic progressive rock into folk, heavy rock, jazz, baroque and renaissance music, minimal music, and new musics. In contrast to Versus X where I play guitar and sing, in APOGEE vocals and all instruments except drums are performed by myself via multitrack recording.
Apogee shows the solo works of Arne Schäfer, the talented leader and singer of German band Versus X. Apart from this collective experience, he's also written numerous tracks, a selection of which is included on "The Border Of Awareness" (1995). He shows there his obvious talents as multi-instrumentalist and as exceptional guitarist. Created by a brilliant composer, this CD reveals an incredible musical culture, that also includes German folk, jazz, Progressive rock, contemporary music and hard-rock. The five long tracks included on "Sisyphos" (1998) show a complex, sophisticated, contrasted and sometimes tortured art with expressive vocal lines, in a spirit close to Peter Hammill's…
German project Apogee have been releasing material at a steady pace for the past 25 years or so, a venture that started out and still is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Arne Schäfer, but now with drummer Eberhard Graef appearing to be a permanent member as well. "Endurance of the Obsolete" is the tenth album to be issued under the Apogee moniker, and was released by German label Progressive Promotion Records in the summer of 2020.
Ably assisted on percussion by Eberhard Graef, Shafer puts in a tour de force on guitars, keyboards and vocals an impressive feat given the complexity of the multi-textured arrangements which range from standard driving rock to full blown symphonic textures. It has to be said that this is a good rendering of some traditional symphonic prog rock…
Apogee is a solo project of Arne Schäfer, of the German progressive rock band Versus X, along with drummer Eberhard Graef. "The Blessing and the Curse" has become a rather non-compromizing Prog Album, with 5 Longtracks, all in the range between 12-16 minutes playingtime and stylistically close to the classic Progressive Rock of the early seventies (comparable to the records of e.g. Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, ELP, UK, Pink Floyd of this period). All Songs are rather complex structurally and regarding the harmonic material used, while besides the Apogee-typical orchestrations also many atmospheric elements are contained.