by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Helenor, the Brooklyn based art-pop / indie rock project of David DiAngelis, are set to release their second album this Fall, the well crafted A Public Place. After a move from Massachusetts to New York, DiAngelis found himself expanding the bedroom pop project from a solo effort to a full band, and in turn their upcoming album is filled with nuanced songwriting and deliberate attention to detail. Moving with a syrupy and laconic grace, the band careen through pop hooks and captivating melodies to blown out fuzz and lush arrangements. There’s a lot to take in, but never at the expense of DiAngelis' poetic songwriting at the core. While we await further details on the record’s release, Helenor shared the record’s lead single, “Warm Ways” earlier this summer, a song that feels radiant with a hypnotic riffs and a slick pulse.
The track is brought further to life with a new video animated by Jack Quinn, a surreal digital art experience where the canvas is only the start. As we find a rather rubbery looking fella working on a painting, his still life subjects, fruit to be specific, seem to come to life. It’s weird, it’s great! The apple rips a guitar solo amid flames… what’s not to like? Eventually the subjects of the painting become the painters as perceptive is shifted, there’s some nice choreographed dancing, and we’re left to wonder if any of it happened at all.
The band are playing a release show for the video on Saturday, August 26th in Brooklyn at The Broadway with Redbud, O.Wake, and Di Ivories.
Speaking about the video, DiAngelis shared:
“This video was originally intended to be a live action shoot with DIY costumes and all, but that quickly changed. I was flushing out the idea, a concept which originated from a fever dream back in art school, with my dear bud/animator, Jack Quinn. It was one of those chats where you have a pebble of an idea, and your friends help you take it the completely extreme version before scaling back to feasible. I really love those conversations, and I’m finding them to be pretty integral to most creative works in my life.
Anyway, a few days later I woke up to an email from Jack with a video link. He had animated the entire thing based on one conversation lol. I believe the intention was to use it as a story board, but it was way too good. We decided to double down on the animation style, clean up a few things, but kept most of it intact. I love how it came out so much. It’s perfect and insane.
Additionally, the song itself deals with the concept of breaking old habits, so it felt fitting to try and let go of being a control freak for this one.”