DELAND USES MINIMALISM TO CREATE BIG ATMOSPHERE
Canadian singer/songwriter's new 13-track endeavour is getting attention from critics
Someone New Helena Deland Luminelle Recordings
Vancouver-born, Montreal-based singer/songwriter Helena Deland is a busy artist.
The Quebec City-raised musician dropped her debut EP Drawing Room in 2016 on the indie label Chivi Chivi. Supported by touring and the well-received video for Baby, that release gave her a jumping off point for far more ambitious records to follow. From the Series of Songs Altogether Unaccompanied Volumes I, II, III and IV arrived in 2018 and saw her inking a deal with Luminelle Recordings for U.S. and global distribution.
The label, founded by Gorilla vs. Bear and Fat Possum Records, is home to a number of atmospheric synth-folk acts who could best be described as following the quiet-quieter-quiet approach to songwriting.
Collaborating with Gab Wax, whose previous bio includes the War on Drugs and Soccer Mommy, the two came up with 13 tracks that are grabbing glowing reviews from taste-making music sites such as Consequence of Sound and Stereogum, as well as industry standard types such as Billboard and Paste.
Here are five things to know about Someone New: 1. Someone New
The title track opens the set and establishes the vibe of the entire recording. With a voice that balances between Canadiana folkiness and college pop, the tune is a slow burner. It begins on a quavering a cappella verse with a single note droning in the background and reverb as she sings “I am stuck/i am stuck as a refrain.” Key an easygoing guitar and a shuffling snare buried in the background and the song starts to percolate. But it's only a tease, as the first three minutes are devoted to getting there with only a minute left to get everyone's toe-tapping before the track vanishes away. Very effective.
2. Dog
An album highlight, this atmospheric ode to an interpersonal relationship that may not be the healthiest — “I hate to be your dog/but I have everything to gain/from your hand on my head/like I'm about to be trained” — really gets under your skin with repeated listenings. Drenched in feedback and
muddy drums, it's probably not going to be on any wedding party playlists. Its sense of personal sacrifice is unsettling.
3. Comfort, Edge
“Give me comfort/give me edge/make it easy/make me beg.” Another obsessive plea for someone to never cease surprising the narrator couched in stripped-down guitar rock that seems to ping-pong around your head. Deland's style of moving
from nearly no accompaniment, or at least minimal backing, to choruses of distant whispers, raw percussion and razor-sharp guitar really works. The guitar solo at the end of the song is an essay in getting a lot out of very, very little.
4. Smoking at the Gas Station
Not only does this song have a great title, but it also might be one of the most straight-ahead songs on the whole album. Sure,
the dominant empty space setting for all the songs is here. But her vocal is quite upfront in the mix and far more melodic and less sung-spoken. At one time, this would have been considered psychedelic.
5. Fill the Rooms
Breathy and barely holding together, the album closer is a lullaby of simple plucked guitar and layered fragile vocals that is, at times, soothing and also unsettling. In other words, you might sleep like a baby or you might be too afraid of what's under the bed to stand a chance of drifting off. A few seconds' blank pause in the tune before the final verse does nothing to assuage that unease. The drone to end the record is a twin to the one that opens it.
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