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The Helio Sequence This is a renewed Helio Sequence; in more ways than one. On the Oregon-based duo’s second album for Sub Pop, magical spells are kicked up several notches and reach levels of magnanimousness not previously thought possible. If you’re thinking that 2004’s Love and Distance is the epic height of the Helio Sequence, check out the splendid ten-song Keep Your Eyes Ahead. With a new record out on indie all-star label Sub Pop, Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel set out to support Love and Distance in 2004 with such folks as Modest Mouse and Blonde Redhead. During these shows, Summers wrecked his voice and back home in Portland he was ordered to shut the hell up for awhile. In order to assure that the voice wreckage wouldn’t occur again, Summers focused on voice training and health, and more importantly, a new direction and focus for Helio Sequence. Taking their time on recording new material, Weikel and Summers spent the next few years working on Keep Your Eyes Ahead, parsing through numerous demos and inklings of sounds – what other small band has the ability to do that? Gone are the uber-epic songs that characterized Love and Distance; replaced by shorter, more direct songs that further illustrate Helio Sequence’s atmospheric indie rock. A definite change is the increased level of poppiness and catchiness, along with melody, across the ten songs. As before, and given they’re a duo, Summers and Weikel employ numerous synthesizers and electronics to fill out their sound. Keep Your Eyes Ahead is anything but an electronic album, with more folk elements than dance-your-pants-off jibber-jabber. Keep Your Eyes Ahead revs up on opener “Lately,” where the tone is set with terrific atmospheric rock matched to pure indie poppiness. “Lately” is a song to immediately grab anyone’s attention. “Can’t Say No” offers kitschy electronics, while “The Captive Mind” uses spacey guitar riffs to match Summers’ vocals. Beginning like a Postal Service song, “You Can Come to Me” soon transfers to acoustic guitar and Summers’ voice on top with the electronics blipping continuing underneath. “Shed Your Love” is the first instance on Keep Your Eyes Ahead where the song quality drops and the boys shift to slow acoustic, Dylan-esque rhythms; also see “Broken Afternoon” and lo-fi closer “No Regrets.” Thankfully, Helio Sequence conquer such slippage with their awesome, Pixies-styled “Keep Your Eyes Ahead” – where you picture rocking forward in a car and, well, the Pixies. As has been said before, sounding like a great Pixies song is nothing to be ashamed of. “Back to This” is only marginal in comparison, while “Hallelujah” does nothing to hide its similarities to a Postal Service song. Keep Your Eyes Ahead is a welcomed return of a band that many forgot and just in time to capture their own piece of awesomeness.
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