Liz Harris will never walk comfortably among the mortals. It’s just not her scene. She whispers and moans in her long-standing solo persona, Grouper, a solitary piano her only companion in a grim, gauzy netherworld. Recently, she’s sprouted three-piece side project Helen and dubbed it her “pop” band. Helen’s debut LP is certainly more accessible that anything Grouper’s put out, but that’s like saying this new ghost you met through the Ouija board seems like a real straight shooter. “Motorcycle,” just less than two minutes, is gorgeous and befuddling, a tiny rock song inside something more ambient and formless. When the guitars summon the courage to create real riffs, Harris’ voice rises to the challenge with swift, ethereal crooning. Hell, some of these songs (the drum-driven “Dying All The Time,” the deeply grooving “Felt This Way”) are potent, for-real rock songs. We’ll never know the words well enough to sing along, but that’s a human concern.
—Patrick Rapa
