The Helio Sequence
Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop)
By Emily Becker
Published: January 29th, 2008 | 12:00am
Blending everything from Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, and Spaceman 3, to a-ha, U2, and the Postal Service, the Helio Sequence’s fourth full-length release, Keep Your Eyes Ahead, is long on influences and short on direction. Long time friends as well as band mates, Brandon Summers (guitar/vocals) and Benjamin Weikel (keyboards/drums) formed the Helio Sequence in the Portland, Oregon suburb of Beaverton. The duo also produced Keep Your Eyes Ahead, which is their first release in four years.
Like an after-hours companion to 2004's more exuberant Love and Distance, Keep Your Eyes Ahead works as a sound track for late nights that seep into early mornings. The gentle acoustic melody of “Shed Your Love” and Summers' breathy vocals on “Back to This” practically guarantee rest for the weary. There aren’t any glaringly unpleasant moments throughout the record, but that’s because you really shouldn’t listen too closely. Most of the songs sound like a pulverized version of VH-1’s We Are The Eighties (“Lately,” “Can’t Say No”), except when Summers starts with the Dylan impressions (“Broken Afternoon”). While still not wholly original, the record’s high points, like “The Captive Mind,” with its warbling guitar line and strong martial drums, or “Hallelujah” (Happy Mondays meets the Postal Service), stand out because Summers and Weikel beat back the haze with a memorable hook or two.
But the album does nothing to cement the band’s musical identity. Keep Your Eyes Ahead sounds dated, and feels manufactured, though never objectionable, as if it were created for the most self-consciously hip elevator that you may ever ride in.
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