Boston-based multi-instrumentalist / electronic producer Keith Kenniff released his first album as Helios ‘Unomia’ back in 2004, and over the ensuing decade he’s continued to be a prolific figure, releasing five more albums under the alias, whilst also balancing his post-classical piano work as Goldmund with Mint Julep, his indie / shoegaze collaboration alongside his wife Hollie. Three years on from his preceding ‘Moiety’ album this latest crowdfunded album as Helios ‘Yume’ takes its title from the Japanese word for dream. Along with the serene cover art depicting a couple relaxing in a field, it’s certainly an apt accompaniment to the delicate yet emotionally direct landscapes being crafted here. Indeed, there’s a sense of melancholy and wistfulness to be found in equal measures across these ten tracks, which see Kenniff combining instrumental elements such as guitar and piano with downbeat electronics to create something partway between post-rock, downtempo and ambient.
‘Every Passing Hour’ gently opens this collection with a filmic wash of blurred-out keys and swirling ambient textures before an almost hip hop drum groove locks in and brooding bass chords rolling against layers of shimmering harp strings and acoustic guitar figures. In many senses it sums up this album’s dreamy and wide-eyed feel in a nutshell as the warm melodic elements bleed out into a joyous blur. ‘Pearls’ meanwhile sees a slightly harder percussive edge coming to the surface as clattering programmed beats roll against moody bass swells, though any hint of real darkness is soon vanquished with the entrance of a web of chiming indie guitar chords and glittering, delayed-out piano arpeggios. Elsewhere, ‘Skies Minus’ hints more at Kenniff’s classical piano training as elegant keys glide over a rich swelling ocean of bass ambience and trailing breathlike synths, in what’s easily one of the more mesmerisingly cinematic offerings on show here. Rather than containing any real peaks, ‘Yume’ is a strong album that induces a gorgeously cohesive sense of ebb and flow.
