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Perhaps I have some strange, wonderful affliction… but lately,
a lot of music has been sounding very much like Neil Young
to me. And not the slower, more acoustic Neil Young of Harvest,
but the edgier sounds of Crazy Horses' finest rocking moments.
This is definitely not a bad thing. Neil Young certainly didn't
invent noise rock, but he did advance the idea into the modern
ideal by which so many bands have tried to live. The Helio
Sequence lives by that creed. Take one listen to Love And
Distance and you will most certainly be in total agreement
with me.
The trashy drumbeats of "Harmonica Song" get the album
rolling along a nice pace, setting the scene for the cacophonous
harmonica that chimes in rather quickly. And then the band launches
into its trademark electronic rock sounds. A grooving bassline
and an assortment of erroneous bleeps and blips completes the
engaging backdrop for the slightly distorted brit-pop style vocal
lines. (Dare I say Oasis here?) Moving a bit from noise
to a cleaner, delay-ridden pop approach is "Repeater".
It is an amazing song, one that would fit right in on absolutely
any radio station around the world… well, maybe not jazz
or, God forbid, light jazz. "Don't Look Away" moves
more into the beepy electronica that makes this band such an anomaly,
especially considering the SubPop imprint. It's solid music that
would appeal to rockers, as well as to the dance/rave crowd, and
the Brit-pop kids, too. The catchy uber-pop of "People Of
The Secret" will have you dancing and wondering what the
devil the guys are talking about, all at the same time. With its
sing-songy lyrics and rhythmic diversity, this song should be
more than able to catapult this band to stardom. Listen up, all
you dookie-heads at Clear Channel! The boys slow things down a
bit on "So Stop" and then wrap up the album in a very
melodic fashion on "Looks Good(But you Looked Away)".
This song would slip nicely into any mellow mix tape. It is dreamy
and seductive and soothing all at once.
There you have it folks. I've come to this conclusion: If Neil
Young and Oasis were to somehow asexually reproduce and transmutate
their genetics, I'm one hundred percent certain the result would
be The Helio Sequence. This is rock for a new world. A brave,
new, noisy, angsty, beautiful world.
-L. Keane
Track List:
1. Harmonica song
2. Repeater
3. Don't Look Away
4. Let It Fall Apart
5. Everyone Knows Everyone
6. People Of The Secret
7. Blood Bleeds
8. S.O.S.
9. So Stop
10. Looks Good (But you Looked Away)
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The
Helio Sequence
