Heligoland
Separate 7"
Along the Snowline 7"
Steady Cam Records

A new acquaintance from down under, Heligoland is like a relic from the heydays of 4AD in the eighties. Atmospheric pop music with lots of reverb and echo, but leaning more to the sober composing of a Burt Bacharach or a Harry Nilsson, no trace of the psychedelic or folksy strains usually running through music like this. Almost hard to describe, no hooks to hang any comments on, it's just pretty and ethereal. Strong songs, beautiful vocals by Karen Vogt and very sparse and stripped down arrangements by the rest of the band consisting of Cameron Gellatly (guitar), Steve Wheeler (bass) and Chris Wright (drums).

The first of these two singles, "Separate" b/w "Cabo de gata", were released in December 2001 and is a celebration of the summer, which is hard for us here on the other side of the balloon to understand since we are now heading straight for snowtime. The second single, "Along the Snowline" b/w "Herringbone", are the companion part for wintertime. Both are prime examples of pure pop, not at all the powerful pop we are used to expect from that part of the world. If I should choose just one song from the two singles it must be "Herringbone" from the newest single; it holds much promise for the LP they are working on.

A popular name Heligoland, in addition to this Melbourne based band you can find another one in England, and in Germany we find the fine experimentalists Helgoland which we here at Luna Kafé have talked about before.

Copyright © 2002 Killer