helios - unomia review from igloomag You don't get one of these come by every day, I can tell you. Unomia is one of those wonderful albums where each track flows immediately into the next: no fades, no gaps, just a specially tailored stream of music. Whilst this may sound unremarkable, consider how many times you really, genuinely come across this kind of album these days. To fashion an album in which each track retains its individuality whilst also seamlessly flowing into the next is no easy task. Helios pulls this off as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Unomia is also one of the most successful blends of IDM and ambient music I've heard in a while. It seems to be quite common among the IDM community to pompously refer to this album as "safe," as if that's stick to beat it with. Personally, I don't see "safe," I see beautiful. It isn't constantly challenging or pushing boundaries, nor is it edgy or daring, but so what? When music is as transcendently gorgeous as this what does it matter? Album opener "Velius," with its distorted-beats driven melancholia, segues effortlessly into "Nine Black Alps" via "Cullin Hill" - one of many interludes sandwiched between the longer tracks that typically contain the most overtly ambient moments of Unomia. Warm, smudged bass tones and a clicking rhythm chatter atop whirls of panoramic ambient drones. Like numerous other tracks present, there's a remarkably natural feel to many of the sounds used here. Helios waits until track five, entitled "West Orange," before pulling the serious ambient card, and does so with Eno-esque aplomb. Keith Kenniff clearly has considerable talent when it comes to both writing for and playing the piano. Both piano and what could be a harpsichord (I can't identify it) are the primary focus of this piece. What's wonderful about this album is that you can actually hear Keith playing these instruments. The acoustic instrumentation aside, there are genuine comparisons to be drawn between this debut album and the later work of Biosphere, most notable the Substrata and Cirque albums. Not in the sense that they share the same - to use a word Geir Jenssen is apparently rather sick of hearing - 'glacial' texture, but that Unomia is possessed of a similar attention to subtle atmospheric detail that becomes evocative enough to sonically describe landscapes. And there are moments where Unomia attains perfection. Let's take "Lighthouse" for example. Now, to all you IDM artists out there trying to include acoustic guitar in your music with any degree of success - just listen. This is how it's done. It doesn't get better than this. Nor does it get any simpler. A plaintive acoustic guitar strums over a beautiful, introspective piano solo as some odd reverbs and wowing atmospheric background effects deepen the sound stage. The following few moments of field-recording populated calm are then followed by the dreamlike "Suns That Circling Go," a sunspot-blistered journey through space that resolves into the more comforting "Clementine" - a rich, sunset-soaked piece that's oddly reminiscent of Ulrich Schnauss at times. At a modest 57 odd minutes, Unomia is packed with such wonderful moments of calm, transition and introspection. But don't take my word for it - a quick perusal of the samples of each track from the Merck Records website should be enough to convince anyone that this is an album of superior quality. The album closes with the breathtaking ambient beauty of "Luek" (words fail me) followed by near 3 minutes worth of field recordings connecting the listener to the bonus track, a Loess remix of "Nyckel." Don't play Unomia as background music whilst you're doing something else. Ever. Unomia deserves more respect and attention than that. Sit down with a well-made drink after a long day, relax and play Unomia from start to finish with no distractions. It's a wonderful experience. - James Knapman helios - unomia review from absorb.org unomia showcases another dimension of the merck sound, specifically refined ambience from helios (keith kennif) that contrasts markedly with the label's more aggressive electronica like syndrone's salmataxia. helios successfully fashions an episodic travelogue that's unified by bridging segues between each piece. numerous styles abound, although a recurring strategy finds him underlaying sustained chordal washes with crisp hip-hop-flavoured beats. a case in point is the dreamy opener 'velius' whose pretty billowing keyboards are joined by a restrained squelchy beat that suddenly mutates into slamming hip-hop pattern, an approach similarly deployed on 'nine black alps' and the buoyant 'clementine.' darker storms appear on the down-tempo dirge 'homero hymnus' and the unrelenting 'samsara,' an imaginary soundtrack for a dying civilization shadowed by faint radio transmissions reporting on its cataclysmic plight. 'two mark' moves into moody sci-fi territory with scattered space emissions and ghostly ligeti voices, while the glistening chordal ambience in 'suns that circling go' evokes eno. kennif also incorporates - perhaps too much so - crashing waves and seagulls on 'cullin hill,' 'buldir,' and the closer 'luek.' the latter treads dangerously close to new age when the only sounds are waves at the shoreline and wind noises, but kennif wisely rescues the track by adding a clanking beat at its end. surprisingly, while the thirteen pieces are all accomplished, the most affecting are 'light house,' a ballad featuring acoustic guitar and piano, and, best of all, the melancholy 'west orange,' a gentle piano piece that sounds like a recording resurrected from some dusty box long-hidden beneath an old home's floorboards. on the down side, unomia doesn't offer anything radically new to advance upon what other ambient artists have done already, but, having noted that deficiency, there's no disputing the quality of its down-tempo, vaporous ambience. reviewed by ron schepper helios - unomia review from chuck van zyl @ cdbaby.com The opening track on the album Unomia (57'00") by Helios (aka Keith Kennif) does something other pieces of modern electronic music can only aspire to do . . . It stays with you . . . Lilting minor key bell-tones echo, build and shift alongside resolute rhythms. But the memorable quality of this song rises from the sentimentality experienced through its hopeful mellow melody; a simple and warm synth line which lingers just long enough to stir the memory. Only the ambition of ideas can limit this music, and on Unomia, his debut album, Helios easily reaches his aesthetic aspirations. The mood and energy of this album wanders up and down, over and under, in a confluence of various streams. The 13 tracks crossfade smoothly one into the other - each an engaging interlude of stratified sound. The truly ambient, environmental moments are cerebral yet comforting. The motion of these impressionistic aural panoramas are contrasted by the edges and grainy definition of this album's rasping rhythms which profoundly tick and shuffle amidst the details of the listener's waking mind. Great stories have a way of re-telling themselves, and with Unomia, Helios has come up with an exceptional, irresistible work which successfully connects prevailing trip-hop fun with the depth and space of ambient sound design.

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