"It was broken / from the start / like a windshield / insurance fraud..."
The youthful folk soul, indie rock stoner smiles of "Windshield" by Helenor, the visions of Brooklyn-based visual artist and songwriter David DiAngelis, has personal and cultural memories sweep past me like a cold morning wind. I am loving the sonic textures here, the very percussive plucks on the guitar strings, the cleanly drawn beats and boomy bass, the quite loud aesthetic, the brassiness heaviness of the big guitar rock moments and especially, ESPECIALLY, the DiAngelis's story telling expresses with a wonderful vocal countenance sometimes in harmonious tandem with Audrey Keelin of Hiding Places. The lyrical poetry here that even just read, is lovely, even very powerful in painting a sort of sense of growing up and all the complex feeling it entails. I really really love the density of the lyrics and how they fit together like these endearing puzzle pieces. AND maybe all our lives are like puzzle pieces, some that fit together so easily and some you have to punch together distorting the edges.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed) says this about "Windshield":
[Helenor returns with a magnetic grunge-folk single tracing the strange durability of childhood.]
[Of the single, Helenor’s David DiAngelis says:
“I’ve been spending a lot more of my time with children lately, which feels like a portal but also a mirror. The mirror part has me feeling like - damn, I’m really not even that much different than who I was at that age. I guess the only way for me to reconcile this is to just remember that every other self-important someone walking by me in New York City is actually just one gigantic child in disguise.
He Continues: “Musically, collaboration has been keeping me moving. My buddy Hudson Freeman helped tease out a new chorus from this 2 year old demo I had for this one, and Audrey Keelin from Hiding Places leant a vocal pass that really jolted the song to life.”]
He Continues: “Musically, collaboration has been keeping me moving. My buddy Hudson Freeman helped tease out a new chorus from this 2 year old demo I had for this one, and Audrey Keelin from Hiding Places leant a vocal pass that really jolted the song to life.”]
The grunge aspects and the beautiful story telling is really special and in many ways it feels 90's adjacent to one of my top 50 songs ever "1979" by The Smashing Pumpkins.
Awesome songwriting, truly.
-Robb Donker Curtius
LYRICS
It was broken
from the start
like a windshield
insurance fraud
We’re laughing
through the
violence
a screenshot
in the
silence
it was broken
We were smoking
in the haul
a suburban
juggernaut
My mind is like a
bottomless pit
$4.99
for the whole thing
pictures of my
friends children
upon my fridge
reminding I’m a
kid
a kid
a kid
a kid
with a body of steel
and a hunger to fix
Take a ride now
to my heart
and we could carpool
(beep beep)
if we had jobs
it’s just a taste of
superglue
the comment section
told me to
we could drive to the show
in our silly little outfits
pure hope tapped
right from the outlets
Mind is like a
bottomless pit
$4.99
for the whole thing
part of me
in a silly outfit
is you
kid
a kid
a kid
with a body of steel
and a hunger to fix
a kid
a kid
a kid
with a body of steel
and a hunger to fix
You’re so cold
and I can’t wait
for the ice to melt
You’re so cold
and I can’t wait
for the ice to melt
from the start
like a windshield
insurance fraud
We’re laughing
through the
violence
a screenshot
in the
silence
it was broken
We were smoking
in the haul
a suburban
juggernaut
My mind is like a
bottomless pit
$4.99
for the whole thing
pictures of my
friends children
upon my fridge
reminding I’m a
kid
a kid
a kid
a kid
with a body of steel
and a hunger to fix
Take a ride now
to my heart
and we could carpool
(beep beep)
if we had jobs
it’s just a taste of
superglue
the comment section
told me to
we could drive to the show
in our silly little outfits
pure hope tapped
right from the outlets
Mind is like a
bottomless pit
$4.99
for the whole thing
part of me
in a silly outfit
is you
kid
a kid
a kid
with a body of steel
and a hunger to fix
a kid
a kid
a kid
with a body of steel
and a hunger to fix
You’re so cold
and I can’t wait
for the ice to melt
You’re so cold
and I can’t wait
for the ice to melt
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://soundcloud.com/helenorhelenor
https://www.instagram.com/helenorhelenor
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https://www.facebook.com/helenorface
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https://www.helenorhelenor.com/
Helenor is a world builder. Born in the bedroom of Brooklyn-based visual artist and songwriter David DiAngelis, Helenor is the DIY sonic and visual exploration of DiAngelis’s relationship to metamorphosis, moments of frustrating stasis, and habits (both good and bad).
To experience a Helenor track is to be transported to a place where even depression shimmers a bit, where existential questions offer catharsis in lieu of answers, where summer heat permeates year round, and where the clouds carry poetic messages as they roll by for anyone who happens to want to look up.
Helenor, Brooklyn based songwriter, David DiAngelis, visual artist, indie rock, grunge folk, alt pop, new single "Windshield", sonic imagery, sonic world builder, melancholy, moving, featuring Audrey Keelin,
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