Talking to the guys from Lyon Apprentice feels like chatting with your long lost friend; familiar and comfortable.

Some of you may recognise their faces as they are also members of the band, FAIRCHILD. (Read our coverage here and here.)

Besides ‘Lyons’ being the brothers’ last name, the band’s name bears significance and meaning. They shared with us that the friend who christened them Lyon Apprentice (pronounced as “Lion” Apprentice), has just recently passed away.

Lyon Apprentice first started out just the brothers playing all the instruments by themselves. Even to the extent of dissecting all the sounds on their own before putting them back together to form their single, Beautiful Thought. Only recently have they roped in fellow FAIRCHILD member, Jim to play the drums alongside them.

A little bit more about the production of the EP, some of the songs were written for FAIRCHILD but were put on the back burner. So from there, Adam and Nathan decided to pick up some of those songs, heading towards the indie folk route while working with different producers such as Mark Myers and Catherine Marks (who also recently worked with FAIRCHILD for their ‘Burning Feet’ EP.) Adam and Nathan also roped in their band members to demo some songs for Lyon Apprentice’s EP, “Be Honest, Be Wild, Be Free”.

The brothers spent two weeks recording songs just off the coast of Great Barrier Reef while searching and developing their own sound. The EP was a long time coming as the whole process of producing took about 10 months in total but the sounds are bigger and better than the brothers ever imagined.

If someone was listening to Lyon Apprentice for the first time, Jim would recommend listening to ‘I Will Find You’ or ‘Beautiful Thought’ for the lyrics as well as the musical arrangement.

It is hard to distinguish the difference between the sounds of FAIRCHILD and Lyon Apprentice. Lyon Apprentice has a more distinctive folk sound. One may even compare them to Grammy winner, Bon Iver. But the brothers did mention that there’s no intentional segregation between their sounds.

What is next:

As FAIRCHILD has a busy schedule, that is their main focus for now. If anything, the boys need 38 hours in a day to complete all their projects. Nathan did mention that materials for recording are ready, it is more about sorting out the time and finances. They would also continue writing in the mean time.

They are also focusing on their music label, Canvas Sounds, giving chances to artists who are good but has a raw quality about them. The music label is also a good medium for the brothers to learn something away from the 2 bands.

If given a chance, there are two local talents they would love to collaborate with: Gentle Bones and Linying. It would be interesting to see the band work with a female singer as that would be a first. 🙂

The Fifth Parlour would like to thank Rhys for coordinating the interview and  Lyon Apprentice for the interview. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours!