Friday 09.10.10: Echo & Club Underground present: HELEN STELLAR / SAUCY JACKS @ echo

hellenstellar

While that’s quite a lofty title, it’s also an apt description of the sonic direction in which Helen Stellar are headed. Having already proven themselves virtuosos of spiraling, explosive and ethereal dream-rock, the LA-based trio have given their huge sound a sense of urgency on their first official full-length release. In doing so, vocalist/guitarist Jim Evens, drummer Clif Clehouse, and bassist Dustin Robles expanded from trio to quartet with the addition of second guitarist Eli Lhymn, amping up the energy of Helen Stellar’s carefully crafted and densely-layered sound. With melodies and textures that soar high into the ether, unrelenting drumbeats that thunder from earth below, driving bass lines, and Evens’ lyrical obsession with the battered heart of the human condition, Helen Stellar have successfully exchanged beautifully dripping rock ambience for a head-on swirling sonic attack of bittersweet melodies. Clehouses’ deft bombastic percussion propels the hooks and melodic twists of “Joseph” and “From Here On” at a breakneck pace while Evens sings passionately about overcoming emotional blindness through the thick, gritty pulse of “Hyper-aware.” “The Disappearing Twin” careens out of control like a psychedelic freight train without brakes as the gorgeous heavenly noise freak-outs wrap around sky-bound “Hopeless Romantic” like a warm blanket. – Under The Radar

With:
Saucy Jacks || Listen