The fact that the new Helio Sequence album is self titled is a hint that this is a new beginning for the indie duo that has been around for almost twenty years. This is the sixth album for the Portland, Oregon band who have always produced smart, engaging music.  But the new album is a successful experiment in something that has been missing from past albums, spontaneity.

With Brandon Summers on vocals and guitar and Benjamin Weikel on drums and keyboards they expanded on a game they played with other area musicians to record 20 songs in one day then compare notes. The Helio Sequence charged thru one month of continuous recording, leaving what would have been classified as mistakes intact.  The result is an ethereal rock masterpiece of honest, multilayered psychedelia.

From the first set of lyrics that call for a new direction, to the ending song that makes promises of never going back, The Helio Sequence’s echoing vocals, hazy guitar riffs, billowing keyboards and the insistent force of drums create ten songs that are familiar at first and reveal more with each new listen.

The Helio Sequence has always sounded like more than the sum of it’s two parts and now through a self imposed streamlining of their work ethic they have found a way to reinvent themselves pushing the outer edge of their own envelope to places they haven’t been before.

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