 The Helio Sequence
Com Plex
Cavity Search Records
CD Review by Norm Elrod
Bands can spend
exorbitant amounts of money to achieve just the
right sound. From the best studio and equipment
to the hottest producer, no expense is spared in
the pursuit of perfection. Still, in the end,
some albums blow up and, well, some just blow.
Musicians have also been known to capture the
makings of a masterpiece on a beat up 8-track
tucked away in a dank garage. Enter Brandon
Summers and Benjamin Weikel - Portland's The
Helio Sequence. Their Cavity Search debut Com
Plex was recorded by night in the one room
music store that employs them by day. Capturing
the heart of My Bloody Valentine and the soul of Spiritualized, the duo proves means
don't always dictate greatness.
Com Plex is
easily one of the more realized debuts we're
likely to hear this year. Sometimes-spacey
sometimes-soaring guitars envelop breathy vocals;
undulating keyboards ebb and flow, oblivious to
wave after crashing wave of percussion. Every
sound is mixed and mastered with a perfectly cool
and calculated production hand, as if the
audience were intended to listen in a hollow and
vaulted room. Still more impressive is that The
Helio Sequence did everything themselves. Given
the limited resources, I can't even imagine what
the two would do in a fully equipped studio.
The hypnotic
interplay of bass and guitars introduces
"Stracenska 612." Gentle vocals and
feedback soon drift to the surface, creating an
opening track reminiscent of the Verve's "A
Man Called Sun." The more playful "Just
Mary Jane (Calypso)" and the simply amazing
"Transistor Radio" show the pair
flexing their melodic muscle to the tune of the
Catchers or a less sample-happy Jack Drag. Later
tracks, with the exception of the sleepy
psychedelic groove of "My Heart,"
explore the space between ambience and noise
carved out by such pioneers as Aphex Twin
("Stitches Sewing") and My Bloody
Valentine ("Demographics"). There is
the occasional grating moment, but these are
fleeting and only seem to accentuate countless
moments of spine-tingling aural pleasure.
Summers and
Weikel have lifted bits and pieces from some of
the best music of the last decade. But don't
mistake the musical touchstones for anything more
than markers along the path, acknowledged but not
stolen. It's premature to announce the birth of
the next Radiohead. But The Helio Sequence
is definitely coming of age. And future releases
may prove to be the most anticipated of the
season.
Email Norm Elrod
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