The Helio Sequence preview

The Helio Sequence
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Losing your voice as a singer is akin to a surgeon losing hand mobility – both seemingly spell the end of a career and bitterly so.

The Helio Sequence frontman Brandon Summers suffered a close call in 2004 after overextending his vocal chords while on tour with the likes of Modest Mouse, Secret Machines, and Kings Of Leon. Six months on the road and traveling across two continents took a hefty toll; so much so Summers had to pull a Celine Dion and refrain from speaking entirely during the day just to scrape by the evening gigs. In the end, the vocalist/guitarist took part in a two month, doctor-ordered hiatus from singing before reinventing himself as the keeper of a precious instrument and following a strict regimen of vocal calisthenics.

Along with best mate Benjamin Weikel (drums, keyboards), Summers rose from the near dead with Keep Your Eyes Ahead (Sub Pop). The Beaverton, Oregon-based duo channel acoustic Bob Dylan on “Shed Your Love” and “Broken Afternoon” and tread the terrain Modest Mouse explored on “Ocean Breathes Salty” in “The Captive Mind,” all the while incorporating signature synth riffs and artificial pops and fizzles like a big red marker altering past templates with searing profundity.

“You Can Come To Me” is an Atari-scored symphony while the bootleg-quality “No Regrets” harkens back to the hootenanny days in Greenwich Village. “Hallelujah” (for once, not another cover of Leonard Cohen’s reverent elegy) storms the dancefloor with a drumroll the colonial British Army would envy.

Bronze and Yourself And The Air open.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly