The Helio Sequence: “October”
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There are many tales of bands that succumb to the safety of the studio, refusing to release their music until it achieves their own sense of perfection (Brian Wilson’s SMiLE era comes to mind). But for others, the studio is an opportunity to creatively stretch out.
The Helio Sequence fits into the latter category of artists. Over a four-year span at the group’s outset, the Oregon duo put out three albums and toured incessantly. But then they decided to slow down, taking a four-year break between albums three and four and again between numbers four and five. Negotiations, the Helio Sequence’s first album since 2008, reflects the band’s studied pace.
Yet the sessions weren’t always so rosy. In 2009, the band’s beloved studio was flooded, prompting the group to set up shop in a former warehouse cafeteria. They spent the next few years building and acquiring new gear before finally deciding to record a follow-up to 2008′s Keep Your Eyes Ahead. Negotiations developed organically: singer/guitarist Brandon Summers and drummer Benjamin Weikel improvised around abstract loops before Summers would sing whatever came into his head.
The album’s first single “October” came about this way, yet it sounds anything but slapdash. It has a rousing sense of forward momentum and takes its time getting there–just like the band that created it. The song won’t see a release until September 11 when Negotiations comes out via Sub Pop, but KUT is offering it up early as today’s song of the day.
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