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CMU Approved
Approved: Helm
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 23 April 2019
Producer and musician Luke Younger has been releasing music in his Helm guise for over a decade now. Over time his sound has developed from abstract noise into broader, more composed soundscapes. This really began to emerge on 2012 album ‘Impossible Symmetry’, and then evolved into something more fully formed on 2015’s ‘Olympic Mess’.
On the latter, a greater focus on rhythm brought more shape to the tracks, which drew the listener into dark corners and then out into more optimistic open spaces. It was a real journey of an album which felt like it had definite meaning, although the listener was left to decide what that might be.
For the follow-up, ‘Chemical Flowers’, which is set for release on 17 May, Younger has developed his sound further with the addition of string parts, arranged and recorded by JG Thirlwell aka Foetus. Working in a secluded studio in the Essex countryside, he worked these recordings into his own music.
“My intention was not to use strings in a ‘neo-classical’ way”, explains Younger. “But instead make something that felt a bit darker [and] dynamic”.
The first track to be released from the album is ‘I Knew You Would Respond’. It uses Thirlwell’s strings to seamlessly take the listener from something that initially feels like a traditional musical form into more industrial sounds, and then back again. Overall the piece feels like the soundtrack to images unseen, images which begin to form in your mind with repeat listens.
Check out ‘I Knew You Would Respond’ here:
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