Coming off his exquisite collaborative album with zakè, beliefsystems, Isaac Helsen offers up a new, expansive landscape for listeners to explore with Burning House. Built on analog synths and field recordings, Burning House was conceived back in 2017 as Helsen began to explore connections between music and photography. The result is an album full of vivid aural imagery.
“Burning House,” the opening piece on the album, is enveloping. Beautiful, cold sonic clouds emerge from a shrouded landscape swimming in hues of blue and gray. Speculative, slow-moving sequences unfold switching between melancholic and hopeful tones as the density of the piece breaks down. There’s a sense of everything falling apart in these opening moments, but also a surprising sanguine feeling moving in behind it; this sense of tearing things down to build something better. It’s moving, unshakeable. Helsen weaves a stoic narrative throughout the shifting drones, letting lightness pierce the veil and win the day. It’s an incredible start to a memorable album.
Burning House is out on November 19 via El Muelle Records. Pre-order below.
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