Helen Earth Band – Our Own Ghost City

I was directed towards Dan Diego’s Helen Earth Band primarily because of my love for twinkly indie kings Minus The Bear.  At first I thought the comparison might be riding on the coat tales of the Seattle staple’s ongoing success.  But then I gave the Helen Earth Band a whirl and I couldn’t help but agree.  In fact, the Helen Earth Band is the closest thing I’ve heard to Minus The Bear shy of the band itself.

However, this is not a compliment.  As is the case with most astoundingly close emulations, when faced with the choice between listening to original or cookie-cutter copycat, I couldn’t see myself favouring the new guy.  The Helen Earth Band’s full-length debut, Our Own Ghost City, might share Minus The Bear’s notes and scattered time signatures, but they’re still missing that essential something.

This isn’t to take away from the sextet’s musicianship though.  It would be a hard sell denying the album’s skillful amalgamation of wispy layered melodies and fluttery, chirping chords.  Rather, the source of my reserve actually lies in the band’s incredible consistency and technical ambition.

Our Own Ghost starts strong, but before long the album becomes bogged down by details that are at once too much and not enough.  The album opens with “Shakencutt,” a track propelled by riffs that jerk forward like a new driver getting a feel for the breaks.  When the band reaches the chorus they retreat into fluffy, interwoven vocal and instrumental harmonies – so far so good.  “Fifteen Sixteen” follows suit, with the band forging through jarring chords to a carefree finale – not bad either, but much the same.  Then the band realizes that they can’t live off the same trick forever, so in “Life As A Passenger” they skip the dramatics entirely and dive right into the fray.  At first I tipped my hat in appreciation, but a few tracks later I soon realized that the band had left a vacancy where their momentary bursts once stood.  Without the inherent contrast of a shifting tempo, all the counterintuitive chords and carefully timed notes in the world couldn’t commit the bulk of these tuness to memory.

Even being composed to former members of veteran indie acts Counterfeit and Finch, the tracks lack the excitement of their parent bands.  The only moment of personal memory takes the form of brief passages composed from stock movie clips that accompany the instrumentals in “Empty Hand.”  Look Mexico achieved a similar effect back with This Is Animal Music, but those conversations framed an entire album, while these feel like a momentary novelty.

I should think highly of Our Own Ghost City – it draws from all my favourite low-key indie interests, even capturing Minus The Bear’s subtle nuances – however the more I try to get into the album the more I find myself snoring up a storm.  I just can’t point to any highs or lows – everything falls into a very indistinct middle ground.  It’s a classic case of getting lost in the details.  The Helen Earth Band needs to break out of their mould and try something dynamic and unpredictable – until then you can find me losing myself in Minus The Bear’s hefty back catalogue.