The new album from Helvetia offers up low-key, lo-fi charms of a sort that seem out of time. Reminiscent of stuff from the Clinton years, lots and lots of Essential Aliens works spectacularly well. And if some of this Joyful Noise release recalls a band like Built to Spill, that makes sense given Jason Albertini's time in that outfit. Still, what's here is more concise and compact than the more spacious songs of the first BTS.
Lead single "New Mess" purrs and throbs like early Grandaddy mixed with The Grifters, while "Star-Hinged Trap", like many numbers here, offers up the kind of skewed indie we regularly get from acts on the PNKSLM imprint. Though that said, Albertini doesn't seem to be as interested in blowing minds as he is in wrapping up a neat hook in the trappings of DIY rock. And in that sense, he succeeds more often than he fails on this record.
This Helvetia album charms on its own modest terms, even if some selections here ("Does It Go Backwards") might make a listener recall others (East River Pipe, Sebadoh) who've dabbled in these forms already. But to Jason Albertini's credit, he never gets lost in the pieces here, preferring instead to find the melodic hook and ride it as far as it will go. As such, nothing here is very lengthy, and the overall effect of Essential Aliens is a fairly uniform one of fun, ramshackle lo-fi.
Essential Aliens is out on Friday via Joyful Noise
[Photo: Helvetia Bandcamp]