Varisema is, in many ways, a dedication to atmospherics. From the beginning of the track, a sense of quiet, darkness and a feeling of gentle lostness envelops the listener.
Art As Catharsis is proud to announce the release of Helu’s debut record Varisema – a single transcendent 35-minute piece of lush, instrumental post rock.
Unbridled, shapeshifting and hauntingly meditative, Varisema simmers with curiosity – begging the listener to ask ‘what comes next?’ as each instrument coils into new, unexpected shapes. The polish and finesse within the album mimics the talent levels of Helu’s influences – bands such as Schnellertollermeier, Tortoise, Battles and The Necks – but given the instrumentation on Varisema, Helu establish themselves as a formidable instrumental act within their own right.
“Our influences are all obviously really different but there is also a lot of common ground between them”, begins guitarist David Stattout. “A lot of “slow burn” development growing out of short rhythmic and melodic ideas. You can go back a bit further to Steve Reich to hear how he built little “cells” and repeated them with a gradual drift to create mesmerising rhythmic patterns and cascading textures. Beyond this, Varisema’s time signature is in 19/16 which was too hard for me to count so the other guys came up with a sentence lining up with all the accents that I could chant (read: rant) to help me keep time. I estimate 341 repeats of the sentence through the set.”
Varisema is, in many ways, a dedication to atmospherics. From the beginning of the track, a sense of quiet, darkness and a feeling of gentle lostness envelops the listener, generated by careful but precise bass and drum works. Each chord from Stattout’s guitar washes over the instrumentals with a wave of reverb, both setting a scene of tranquillity while tightly wrapping the body of the song together. The further the track progresses, the more ambitious it becomes. Pinch harmonics and off-kilter riffworks dance between aethereal and ominous, playful and dark. The counterbalance and variety of elements ensures that every passing minute of the track becomes more engaging, more powerful and above all – more worthy of your attention as it progresses.
“Varisema means caves in Estonian and it is a preferred title because Estonia is exotic and far away,” says Stattout. “I remember early on listening to demos late at night on headphones and feeling like I was gradually descending into a cave. It was an oddly soothing experience which would probably terrify me in real life. Then the other guys suggested Cave In / Caving as a title, and I hadn’t actually said anything to them. So it stuck immediately. What I like about the song is that it’s finished. And also that (in my humble opinion) it’s a compelling listen start to finish.”
With the release date of Varisema creeping up, the anticipation behind Helu’s upcoming record has already borne fruit in the form of festival slots late in 2019. An upcoming tour with Sydney prog heavyweights Hashashin takes Helu across the east coast in October, and word of both an upcoming European tour and a follow-up track is in the winds.
Helu’s Varisema is available for streaming on <Date>.
