Date: 21/08/2018
0 -1:09-10 - "Day Nation"
1:09-4:20 - "Coalescence"
4:20-9:47 - "Untitled" (Radiohead Remix Contest Submission)
9:47-12:46 - "Corner Window"
12:46-17:37 - Synkro "Midnight Sun" (Helios Remix)
17:37-21:13 - "Stasis"
21:13-22:24 - "Seven Days"
22:24-24:51 - "Near Islands"
24:52-28:22 - Nils Frahm "Re" (Helios Rework)
28:22-31:59 - Balmorhea "Truth" (Helios Remix)
31:59-35:34 - "You The Rose"
35:34-38:31 - "Sequoia"
38:31-44:54 - "Within"
44:54-48:38 - "Unity"
48:38-53:10 - “Closing"
Helios is an outlet of Keith Kenniff, the Boston-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, electronic music producer, and Berklee College of Music graduate. Kenniff is also one half of the indie rock/shoegaze band Mint Julep alongside his wife, while he also records and performs piano as Goldmund, for which he has seven LPs on Unseen Music, Type Records, and Western Vinyl, including this year's Occasus.
Kenniff kick-started the Helios project with 2004's Unomia, and he's since shared dozens of ambient releases under the name, including five long-players via his own Unseen Records or Type. And while they're all different in their own subtle ways, the musical work is cinematic, deeply introspective, and wonderfully transportive-understated yet impactful. It's music for headphones; music for the dead of night, best enjoyed free from distraction so as to best appreciate the rich textures and nuances within.
Up next is Veriditas, Helios' sixth full-length but the first on Ghostly International. We're told that it introduces "unusual shapes and landscapes" to the Helios catalogue. Whereas past songs have followed traditional structures-discernable bell curves with beginnings, arcs, and ends-the focus here is texture and harmony. "I wanted to explore emotionality within something more static," Kenniff says.
In support of the release, Keniff has browsed through his Helios archives, from 2004 to the present day, and compiled some of his favourite pieces into one cohesive mix. Much of this material is unreleased or has gone unheard, having drifted under the radar for one reason or another. As would be expected, the mix as a whole is delightfully intricate, featuring moments of uptempo bliss juxtaposed with periods of beatless ambience. Drift off, you sure will.
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