Helen - Linda's Head

I don't really follow music news so the new album from Liz Harris of Grouper fame's old side project band Helen showing up in my Apple Music was a real surprise. Helen's first album was a really underrated piece of janglegaze, very different from most of Harris's output as Grouper at the time. I liked The Original Faces just fine but I can't say I've thought about it much since it came out.

Like the first Helen album, Linda's Head gets into its ideas quickly. This is not a psych album, it does not overstay its welcome with 10 tracks in 31 minutes. Unlike The Original Faces, Linda's Head feels like a great batch of songs that needed to get out, not just a grouping of quality dream pop experiments.

The gorgeous "Starline" feels like a classic lo-fi indie track from the 90s, the loping "darkblue" an outtake from a Slowdive session. Grouper's work tends to be quite dark but some of these songs such as the rattling "Dead shark II" feels like a joyous ode to The Clean.

Helen was not a return I was expecting much from but the band's sense of purpose seems so much stronger than on the original LP, I'm genuinely hoping for some momentum for new work and not another 11 year wait until a new album.