Here’s another one of Merck Records’ shining successes. Helios sent me the mp3s himself (upon my request) so that KZSU could have a copy.

Helios is not just an electronica artist or producer – he’s a legitimate “musician” in the full sense. The songs vary considerably in style, from fully ambient to downtempo beats, but most feature Helios’s very introspective, delicate piano compositions. Think Album Leaf, with touches of Boards of Canada and Max Richter. This is definitely “headphone” music – a soundtrack for very significant life moments, from the best to the worst. The album starts with a vibe of innocence, turns extremely dark and haunting in the middle, and then finally finds its way to a sublime tranquility. It’s quite the journey, so I encourage you to listen the full way through. Highly recommended, even to non-electronica people.

Note: Most of the tracks blend together
Favorite Tracks: 3 and 11. For very dark ambience/piano try 5 and 8.

Track by track on back ----->

- Captain Dee, Jan. 2005

*1. Dreamy chime melody, muted downtempo chugging beat, amorphous ambience. Apt opening track – conveys the sensation of waking up. (5:39)
2. Field recording, ethereal melody. Very relaxing. No beat. (1:19)
**3. Ultra-addictive rolling/downtempo beat, deep/warm ambience. Perfect sunset music. Grows dark and windy by the end. (5:45)
*4. Cold, scary vibe from the get-go. Ominous fragments of melody and mechanical beat. (4:55)
**5. Haunting, deeply sad/lonely piano with hints of ghostly ambience. Ends with super muffled speech sample. (4:44)
*6. Quiet beat, repeated click, dark ambience/melody. Disturbing air. Ghostly chorus towards the end. (4:41)
*7. Amorphous darkness. Slow beat and melody engulfed in windy ambience. The despair has reached its lowest point. Later, barely audible speech sample. Reminds me a lot of Godspeed You Black Emperor! (6:25)
*8. Depression expressed in a guitar/piano duet. Electronic ambience makes it all extremely haunting. Field recording at end. Beautiful. (2:41)
*9. Floating, warm Boards of Canada-ish melody. I kind of imagine this is what dying feels like, when all the pain of living finally fades away. (2:57)
10. Incomplete radio transmissions/static over brief piano. (0:40)
***11. Understated tick-tock beat, comforting ambience, head-in-the-clouds melody. Then suddenly a certain power of emotion surges out of nowhere, introducing a stunningly beautiful melody and stronger beat. Breathtaking! The break gives me the chills. (5:12)
*12. Super chill, carefree piano over ocean/seagull samples. (1:24)
*13. More ocean/seagull samples, ultra sublime ambience. Then pure wind noises for several minutes. Finally, four minutes of trippy/swampy trip-hop, as if life is starting to grow anew. (10:32)