Since the turn of the century, few have matched the ghostly essence of a Liz Harris composition. Predominately through the lens of Grouper, Harris has felt her way through the miasma, exposing wonderful contrasts between beauty and darkness. Through her ever-expanding body of work, Harris has emphatically showcased that the two can coexist.
There have been lighter moments, too. Helen, for example. The trio featuring Harris alongside bassist, Scott Simmons (Lavender Flu, Eat Skull), and drummer Jed Bindeman (Eternal Tapestry, Heavy Winged), who in 2015 released their debut LP, The Original Faces. It was a nice dovetail with Kranky labelmates Belong, and at the time felt like a brief respite from the often heavy weather of Grouper.
11 years on, and the Pacific Northwest trio return with Linda’s Head – a follow-up many thought would never come. While billed as bedroom pop, this band are so much more than that. Many of the genre’s practitioners, reducing it to something disposable, whereby the power in numbers has had an adverse effect. Linda’s Head isn’t remotely in the same orbit, and in fact, occupies its own. The freewheeling nature of The Original Faces, expanded with a new, naked intimacy.
From the opening verses of Faraway, it’s clear that Helen have moved beyond the aloof, scuzzed-out amplifier worship of their past. The song, like a lost Judee Sill cut that you may have heard in your dreams. It’s not the only moment on Linda’s Head where Helen explore the AM transmissions, either. Dead Shark and Dead Shark II, arguably the album’s central figures where Helen work outwards from.
Helen - Linda's HeadThe residue leaks into the likes of Starline, as its warm distortion feels more like an endorphin rush (“I’m dying on earth / I’m not going back / The sky is my home / Please don’t let me go”). It’s the ultimate escapist track, as where the texture and tone is dispensed with homely intentions.
It’s a contrast to Endless Sky, which is like shoegaze through the fourth wall. Once again, Helen weave a ’70s songwriter-inspired thread, and it exposes things we’ve not heard from Harris before. Her vocals, always masqueraded behind thick sheets of distortion, but not here. So too on Black and Quiet Love where Harris hasn’t sounded so candid (“Do you know what it’s like to have no one?”). Emerging from the same shadows that have been her natural habitat for so long, Harris takes the leap she threatened to during moments on Grouper’s Shade.
Elsewhere, and the title track sees Helen taking their cues from Flying Saucer Attack. Bindeman’s heavy, tumbling drums, setting the framework for what is drone-rock conceived from a cave. Unlike Darkblue, which finds the band unveiling the kind of tender, floaty slowcore that hits with a wave of emotion. The juxtapositions from quiet to loud, like two songs merging into one. And that tenderness remains on Stay With Me. “I look for you everyday / Lately I feel you around,” sings Harris, as if she’s searching for a ghost. The song, large in both sound and theme.
With Linda’s Head all about contrast, it’s fitting that Helen culminate it with the terrestrial hum of Canyon. Something that oscillates between the dream-state and reality, which is quite indicative of the project itself. For many, they would have thought The Original Faces was a one-off given the time between releases. The dream, now reality, and with Linda’s Head, Helen have released something that not only transcends its predecessor, but also everything else in the landscape of shoegaze-inspired music this year. It’s a wonderful surprise all round.
Linda’s Head is out Friday via Kranky. Purchase from Bandcamp.
