press...
The music these guys generate is huge. Like giant blankets of sound and color flowing all over you.... Helen Stellar has a particularly strong command for the build in a song; the slight, gradual rise in energy of a tune to keep it interesting until the very end. (The Rockit, April 27, 2006)
The "Elizabethtown" soundtrack features fifteen wonderfully diverse songs that manage to work seemingly well with the overall feeling of his new film opus.... Tom Petty's "It'll All Work Out," and Helen Stellar's "io (This Time Around)" were the most memorable tracks from the film and are definitely the two strongest songs on the soundtrack. (Indiana Daily Student, October 27, 2005)
Reminiscent of London’s “shoe-gaze” movement of the early ’90s, the band’s sound is replete with thunderous drums, thick bass melodies and distorted guitar revelry. (TheReader.com, October 27,2005)
Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown...soundtrack is timeless. The former Rolling Stone journo keenly taps obscure dream-poppers Helen Stellar for the otherworldly "io (This Time Around)," Lindsey Buckingham and Tom Petty for their most effecting new songs in years, and for good measure, Elton John's epic "My Father's Gun," among other generation-spanning gems.... Just think of this as the best mix tape you've heard all year. (Long Island Press, September 29, 2005)
Any soundtrack put together by Cameron Crowe is one that should be paid attention to.... Track #4, io (This Time Around), by Helen Stellar is a beautiful minimalistic piece that sent me scrambling to Google in order to learn more about the band making the incredible sounds coming from my speakers. (Blogcritics.org, September 26, 2005)
Amoeba Records Top 10 Independent Local Artist Releases: #3 - I'm Naut What I Seem EP, #5 - Below Radar EP, #10 - Newton EP (Campus Circle, September 28-October 4, 2005)
Helen Stellar is pretty, melodic and oh-so dreamy - but not without an edge.... This L.A. based trio manages to maintain a welcome sense of urgency in its performances that keeps the drama high and its arrangements from sinking too far into the mruky depths. (The Pacific Northwest Inlander, July 21, 2005)
The band takes a wall-of-sound approach to guitar pop, smacking you in the face with jangly guitar riffs and forceful drumming right from track one, the lovely and aptly named "The Opening Credits." Never overbearing, the instruments blend well with the plaintive singing of Jim Evens, creating moody but not maudlin songs. (Boise Weekly, July 10, 2005)
Having transplanted themselves to Los Angeles from Chicago, Helen Stellar have consistently put heart back into the all too often stale spacerock genre. I’m Naut What I Seem carries on this tradition and adds far better musicianship and more complex song structures than anything on their previous releases…. Helen Stellar is perhaps LA’s best kept secret. 8 Blips out of 10. (Under The Radar, Spring 2005)
Helen Stellar’s dreamy, detached, post-Verve style pop is a mixture of ethereal vocals, atmospheric guitars, expressive basslines and death-from-above percussion. An expansive, mystical sound… (Homegrown, Campus Circle, January 12, 2005)
I’m Naut What I Seem EP – #1 selling independent release, December 2004. (Amoeba Music, Los Angeles)
Helen Stellar does make a lot of noise, but their noise is more akin to the beautiful punishment Ride was honing during their art school days…. The band’s two EP’s, Below Radar and The Newton EP, showcase Helen Stellar’s particular brand of infectious songcraft. (Bands to Watch in 2004, Under The Radar, Spring 2004)
Chicago’s Helen Stellar are a dead rockin’ cross between the Foo Fighters and the Steve Miller Band (“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’, into the future”), delivering melodic but edgy space rock fairy tales that are perfect for long drives spent gazing silently out the window at the passing landscape and awkward first kisses on cold bench car seats lit only by the glow of a nearby porch light. (Gigs of the Week, San Francisco Examiner, June 5, 2003)
Loops of guitar and heavy atmospherics create texture for lyrics…about salvation, fiction and fables on “Temporary Solutions,” made all the more vulnerable and affecting by vocalist Jim Evens’ ethereal delivery. Similar to BRMC or the Dandy Warhols in its dreamy detachment, yet less ironic, Helen Stellar combines piano, bass, guitar and drum in an arresting formula of controlled tension and release in songs like “IO.” (Prefix, May 21, 2003)
[Helen Stellar’s] mixture of expansive, soaring vocals, washed out guitars, ground-exploring basslines and death-from-above percussion make this band a 3-man symphony of oblique expression... (usounds.com, May 2, 2003)
Like early-’90s Southwestern sad guys Half String and the U.K’s Field Mice, Helen Stellar can blast off and make melancholy, swirling, reverb-layered space music without cutifying it to death.... Singer Jim Evens’ low swoon and ruefully brutal words about depressed girls who attend poetry readings are downright funny and delivered with sagacious detail. But it’s the vast, swooping acoustic drums and drum-machine grooves that endeared Helen Stellar to KCRW’s Nic Harcourt, on who’s morning show you might’ve heard them performing live recently. (Picks of the Week, LA Weekly, May 2-8, 2003)
Below Radar EP – Amoeba Top 10 for the week of January 29, 2003 (Amoeba Music, Los Angeles)
Space rock pop band from the U.S. that delivers unheard and compelling rhythm and melody. Swirling into your consciousness. (BandRadio.com, November 23, 2002)
They are only a three-man band, but their experimentally exciting style fills in all the holes…they are somewhat influenced by Smashing Pumpkins, which comes out in ‘The Sound of Carpet’ as nicely ragged acid guitar ambience on top of some Jimmy Chamberlain drumming style. Slip on some dark glasses and a pair of headphones and keel over on a sofa; time to deaden your senses to the world we live in and step into your own (Good Foot Central, July 2002)
This is looping space rock for sure. These wannabe Brits (from Chicago) focus on the makeshift Christmas lights blinking on and off in their practice space, and jam their way to a direct but spirit-lifting sound…. The bass delivers a repetitive but never boring foundation (‘Newton’) and deceptively tricky rhythmic touches. The effects-heavy guitar and ghostly vocals wash over your ears (‘The Motorist’). Put those headphones on for ‘Weightless’ and discover tasty surfaces and loops. Excellent. (Sponic Zine, June 21, 2002)
The Newton EP – Most Requested CD's for the week of December 21, 2001 (KCRW 89.9 FM Santa Monica)
The group relishes descriptions like “spaced-out” and “psychedelic”, and those dreamy qualities come to life on their new four-song EP…it opens with ‘Popris’, a lush pop-rock song featuring melodic vocals and sweeping melodies that trail into a dust of interstellar bliss and bass. The title track follows with a bouncy beat that delivers hallucinatory qualities. ‘The Motorist’ features guitar clawing at the vocals, yet it’s a slow and relaxed song with a sprinkling of strange grace, like something the Samples might concoct. It speaks to the power of journey and self-discovery. ‘Weightless’ is a pulsating piece of space-jazz-rock that builds on whimsical and echoing vocals and teeters on the verge of overdrive. (Wisconsin State Journal, October 4, 2001)
Pop Song EP – Featured MP3 Download, Reader Rating: Five Stars (RollingStone.com, August 2001)
The combination of jangly guitars and smooth, airy synths and soaring melody make ‘Pop Song’ an odd juxtaposition that works. The dreamy pop sound is reminiscent of the Cure and My Bloody Valentine. (Editor’s Pick of the Day, RollingStone.com, June 9, 2001)
[The Newton EP] is so good that if I could play all four tracks off this EP, I would, because they flow so well; everything segues beautifully. Just phenomenal - better than 99% of the stuff I get. (Richard Milne, WXRT 93.1 FM Chicago)
With their short but highly potent Newton EP, Helen Stellar joins the forces of indie space rock. The four-track EP delivers many future promises for the trio from Chicago.... Helen Stellar shows that with only a four-track EP, a full-length album feeling can be heard. Newton leaves the listener wanting for more…. Not as spacey as Sigur Ros, not as indie jam as Tortoise, Helen Stellar manages to pull off a clean feel. (denvermusicscene.com)
A most well produced and executed example of great things to come. Be sure to listen to this with a healthy dose of Vitamin C. (MP3reviews.com)
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management and booking:
jim evens
773-426-4941
dustin robles
310-709-7525
helenstellar@hotmail.com
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