Helvetia reviewed
Helvetia
The Clver North Wind
(Static Cult)
Purposely unfocused, Helvetia’s debut album wanders within the vast indie rock spectrum, never stopping anywhere for long.
Usually an album characterized by its failure to concentrate is a death knell, a mark of inexperience or some childhood-derived need to be all things to all people. Well, it very well could be the members of Helvetia had inattentive parents, but The Clever North Wind suggests those same folks lavished them with records. While not every experiment works in 15 songs spread across nearly 65 minutes, quite a few do. The post rock/jazz of “The Drowning End” fades the album out with languidity, countering opener “Songs Of The Ancient” and its stuttering rhythmic base. Math rock and psychedelia mesh for “Gladness (Is In The Heart)” while “Dead Hands” heard the news today, oh boy. While an anchor dangles from the classic ’90s indie rock of “Better A Debtor,” Helvetia seek bounty on the open sea.
— Kevin Keegan
Appearing: September 15th and 16th at Metro in Chicago.
