The band first came together for a charity album for Survival International called Amazon Tribe: Songs for Survival. The album wads produced by Martin Terefe and Molly Oldfield, and the band produced the first track on the album, "Ferreting". This track was used as the theme music for the Amazon series on BBC 2. Subsequently they continued to work together in Magne Furuholmen's studio in Norway, and created more tracks that were periodically made available on their MySpace and Youtube pages. They also have a complex website, through which they released various videos and song snippets. They have an alliance with the "Eye On Committee" and aim to bring fans into their world, "inside the cube", in their uniquely odd way by claiming "you too can be an Apparatjik". On 30 November, they released the first official track, "Electric Eye", from their then-upcoming album through their website.
Apparatjik's first live performance was at the eleventh edition of club transmediale, an annual festival in Berlin, which took place from January 28 to February 7, 2010. This gig consisted of the band performing inside a specially constructed cube at the WMF on February 1, 2010. The same day saw the release of their debut album, titled We Are Here, for digital download via their official website. They have since released further singles, their 4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead extended-play, and on June 15, 2010, they re-released We Are Here on iTunes in standard and deluxe versions.
After playing at the Flø festival in Norway in June, on 23 September 2010, the band played their third concert in London. The cube was transported to the red summer pavilion, designed by Jean Nouvel, when Molly Oldfield brought the group to the Serpentine Gallery, in Hyde Park, London. As a nod to the fusion of art and music in their performances, they were invited by the Serpentine Gallery to play at the Future Contemporaries party.
Performances by Apparatjik are an eye-catching affair, with specially-created visuals and silhouettes of the four band members being projected onto all four sides of the cube.
Apparatjik's first song to be played on BBC Radio 1 was a radio edit of "Datascroller", which aired on June 14, 2010.
In November 2010, Magne Furuholmen revealed the promise for "a few very exciting things with [Apparatjik] in 2011" during a BBC Radio 2 interview.
Apparatjik launched a new project called agreeneryouniverse on 11 February 2011. This project invites people across the world to plant a tree, make a picture and upload it to their website. The first 1,000 people in doing so would receive new music as a gift.
A new download-only single was released on 28 March 2011 called "Combat Disco Music".
On 11 November 2011, Apparatjik released their second album called Square Peg In A Round Hole as a free iPad application. Four days later it was given away as a gift as part of the agreeneryouniverse project. The initial target was to release new music upon reaching 1,000 newly planted trees across the world, but the album was released to a wider public after 727 trees had been planted. The iPad application contains a date of 21-02-2012 (21 February 2012) which has led to discussions by fans about the album being released in a physical format on that date.
The band collaborated with Canadian singer Elizabeth Lowell Boland, better known as Lowell, who drummer and producer Martin Terefe has been working with beforehand, and released the mini-album "If You Can, Solve This Jumble" (stylized as "Apparatjik Presents Lowell: if YOu_ _ caN, 5olve thi5 jumble?") on 29 October 2012. Each track in the extended play features lead vocals by Lowell. The debut single "Shake Him Off" has been played on BBC Radio 1 and became single of the week in Canada on iTunes.
Sites: Discogs, MusicBrainz and YouTube
Sequential
Apparatjik Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There will be a time for us, keep watching it
306 freakin' standin' now keep watching it
I never knew that you were so... beautiful
We are running, we are hiding
In the shadows from the demons that come in the night
That the circuits inside are sequential, we're sequential, we're sequential
The circuit has a switch, it's hard to be a witch
I think I'm gonna start a little fire
The circuit has a switch, it's hard to be a witch
I think I'm gonna start a little fire
306 freakin' standin' now keep watching it
The circuit has a switch, it's hard to be a witch
I think I'm gonna start a little fire
We are running, we are hiding
In the shadows from the demons that come in the night
We are dreaming and we're finding
That the circuits inside are sequential, we're sequential, we're sequential
We are running, we are hiding
In the shadows from the demons that come in the night
We are dreaming and we're finding
That the circuits inside are sequential
- The circuit has a switch
We're sequential
- The circuit has a switch
We're sequential
The circuit has a switch, it's hard to be a witch
I think I'm gonna start a little fire
The lyrics of Apparatjik's "Sequential" are layered with metaphors about human connections and the complexities of existence. The song starts with the line "Have you seen the writing on the screen, there will be a time for us, keep watching it." This line seems to be a reference to the way we consume media and how we are inundated with information. The phrase "there will be a time for us" could suggest that we will eventually understand our place in the world, and that we should continue to be receptive to new ideas and knowledge.
The rest of the song seems to be a commentary on the human experience, and how we must navigate the joys and struggles of life. When Apparatjik sings "We are running, we are hiding in the shadows from the demons that come in the night," they could be referring to our tendency to avoid pain and discomfort. However, the line "We are dreaming and we're finding that the circuits inside are sequential" suggests that we are all interconnected in some way, and that our experiences are not separate from one another.
The repeated line "The circuit has a switch, it's hard to be a witch, I think I'm gonna start a little fire" could be interpreted as a call to action for listeners to take charge of their lives and create positive change. The line "306 freakin' standin' now keep watching it" is a nod to the fact that the song was released on the 306th day of the year.
Line by Line Meaning
Have you seen the writing on the screen
Have you noticed the message displayed on the screen?
There will be a time for us, keep watching it
A future moment will arrive for us, so keep paying attention to the message.
306 freakin' standin' now keep watching it
Three hundred and six (people?) are standing right now, so keep watching the screen (for further developments?).
I never knew that you were so... beautiful
I didn't realize before how attractive and captivating you really are.
We are running, we are hiding / In the shadows from the demons that come in the night
We are fleeing and concealing ourselves from the horrors that approach in the darkness.
We are dreaming and we're finding / That the circuits inside are sequential, we're sequential, we're sequential
Through inspiration and discovery, we're realizing that the components within us operate in a specific order or pattern, and that we ourselves follow a pattern or sequence as well.
The circuit has a switch, it's hard to be a witch / I think I'm gonna start a little fire
It's difficult to be a magical and possibly alien being, but I may cause a small outburst or spark.
Contributed by Levi T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
E. Ram.
Came back here in 2021...still holds up..still love Guy Berryman
Sara Portesi
GUY BERRYMAN HAS A VOICE AND HE CAN SING😍😱😍😱😍😱😍😱😍😱😍😱😍😱
Vianey M BL
:') Mis favoritas de Apparatjik son Sequential y Snow Crystals :3
Holly Richardson
Guy's voice will be the death of me ♥_♥ he seriously needs to sing more
Ana Laura Rosas
A partir de hoy será una de mis canciones favoritas... (obvio por Guy 😍😍😍)
a c
Jajajaja
Canta muy bien
Melissa Owens
I LOVE this song and Signs of Waking! I'm SO glad to hear Guy as lead on these songs and in my opinion these are better than Apparatjik's first album songs. Though as a Pagan, i'm not sure what to make of the "it's hard to be a Witch, i think i'm gonna start a little fire," bit. lol!
Meghan Kenney
Oh my god its really Guy?!?!?! Wow he's so good.... <3 He can sing very well for someone who never seems to sing....I wish he would sing more for Coldplay....
Grace Morgan
i could listen to this song a billion times and never get sick of it!!!! :D <3 <3 <3 GUY BERRYMAN IS AMAZING!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Ossie7Alpha
Guy sings a lot, he does loads of the backing vocals in CP stuff it's just the editing on this is different, and I think the Electronic Music in MX isn't as influenced by this as much, but a load of stuff, partly this maybe, but loads of others too.