Much like her beloved Ramones in the past, Helen Love remains an enduring source of joy in an increasingly grim world. For more than a quarter-century, the band, Helen Love, fronted by Helen Love, has made music that blends the best of bubblegum pop, DIY indie, and proto-punk. And while there are sometimes gaps between releases, Helen Love's back with a superbly invigorating album for the final few months of 2020. Power On, out as of yesterday on Alcopop, re-affirms the charms of this outfit, and the enduring strength of the sound here.
"Hold Your Hand" starts things deliberately before "Debbie Take Control of the Stereo" roars out of the speakers. A neat mix of Shampoo and early Transvision Vamp (to offer a comparision for the uninitiated here), the song samples Elvis Costello and burns itself into your brain. That one is a real highlight here on Power On as is the chiming "Dead in My Head". That one, along with "Top of the Pop Chart", sounds exactly like most of what Helen Love's cranked out in the Nineties and after but, hey, that's a ringing endorsement.
Little here suggests an expansion of the Helen Love sound, though "Leader of the Band" is a bit cleaner than some earlier HL rockers, while "Power On The Music" is as close as this lot have gotten to Slade yet. Never one to get bogged down too much, Helen Love sings these with the right mix of passion and detachment. Her art is like that of Joey Ramone, and so much of that art is how the affections of the artist for past hits is transformed into something fresh and familiar at the same time. In that regard, Power On hits in exactly the right way, and feels like all the best Helen Love stuff from the past.
Power On is out now via Alcopop.
More details on Helen Love via the Facebook page.
[Photo: Helen Love / Alcopop]