7000apart - "We Are More" | Album Review

7000apart is a project born from the budding relationship of Jon Kresin and Amelie Eiding. The now husband and wife met in high school while Eiding was studying abroad in Wisconsin. A music class was what drew the pair together, and the band 7000apart, named after the distance between Greenbay, Wis. and Sweden, kept Jon and Amelie together during their long-distance relationship. For anyone who has done long distance, whether it be another city or another country, it is difficult to hold a relationship together. Tiny cracks can easily become an impassable crevasse. After a couple of singles and an EP, the duo came together to create their debut full-length, We Are More. The title sort of says it all when it comes to the album's concept - we are more than just the individual pieces.

The duo describes themselves as an "organic pop" band, which feels like a bit of an admirable novelty. 7000apart have almost no room to hide within the minimal instrumentation, so the band's lyricism must be on point. "Blank Check," their first single from the album, is a piano ballad that showcases Eiding's vocal prowess. Many of the songs on We Are More follow a similar makeup where you can count the number of sonic elements on one hand. This musical simplicity emphasizes the lyrical complexity found in many of the album's tracks.

Much like the topics it tackles, We Are More is rarely black and white when it comes to the emotions it conveys. There is a dichotomy between the instrumental and the lyrics. "Sorry" has a laidback, Amy Winehouse-inspired guitar line that supports an apology letter written after lashing out at a loved one. The album's second track, "Close Your Eyes," focuses on when the depression or anxiety pushes you to a breaking point. The track broods but has glimpses of triumph in between the darkest moments, and it is these moments, which are felt across the whole of We Are More, that add a layer of authenticity rarely found other places.

Even with its sad moments, We Are More is an upbeat record. "Dust Covered Eyes" has a childlike quality to it and "We Were 18" is a gorgeous love letter to Jon and Amelie's relationship. But the track that really stands out from the rest is "Get Back Up Again." They spare no expense to add a full horn section in order to dig into their soul roots, and Eiding's voice feels absolutely at home in front of the wall of sound that the instrumentation create.

In a profile done by Andrew Kruse-Ross for the Frankly Greenbay, Eiding mentions their mission for  We Are More was to create something timeless which they totally succeeded in doing. The fact that they stayed away from the trendier side of indie pop allows them to focus on a sound that cannot be dated. The songs are just good, the stories they tell are classic, but its the way they tell their stories that makes them unique to 7000apart and We Are More.

We Are More is out now.