Helene

Did you like Mazzy Star? If so, then may I suggest some Helene?

It's tough to compare anyone to Hope Sandoval because there is a whole package with Sandoval that is tough to match up to. However, Helene's voice has that same sexy seductive quality that launched a thousand crushes on Sandoval in the 90's. And the instrumentation has that somber dark VU essence while remaining catchy enough to suck you in.

Last month, England's Helene released their second album, Routines and I've been pulling it up on my iPod repeatedly. I came across the album while poking through a bunch of "Best of 2006" lists on emusic a few weeks ago. The downside to them is that there isn't much about them on the internet.

Their myspace site doesn't have much info and their page on Series 8 Records is a bunch of gobilygook about themes for the songs and whatnot. The amusing thing is that neither their myspace site nor their label mentions any comparison to Mazzy Star. It's as if they think that if they don't mention it, nobody will notice it. It's like John Cleese in Faulty Towers yelling to everyone, "Don't mention the war!" when the German guests arrive.

Oh, well, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that they crank our beautiful tunes.

Helene | Apostille | Buy
Helene | Nothing To You | Buy