North America’s alternative music power couple Tom Shear and Mari Kattman are back as HELIX.

The former is the mastermind behind ASSEMBLAGE 23 while the latter has established career as a solo artist as well as collaborations with the likes of PSY’AVIAH, 3FORCE and BLACKCARBURING. Originally coming together for Shear’s 2014 EBM side project SURVEILLANCE, their debut HELIX long player ‘Twin’ came in 2018 but busy with their main musical outlets, an EP follow-up ‘Bad Dream’ didn’t appear until 2021.

Blessed with one of the most captivating voices in electronic music, Mari Kattman is on top form with the new HELIX EP ‘Unimaginable Place’. Meanwhile Tom Shear creates soundscapes sympathetic to his leading lady while exploring textures and beats in a variety of dark styles without resorting to the calculated miserabilism of some acts.

The opening ‘Unimaginable Place’ title track is an infectious slice of electronic pop that is perfect for goth club dancefloors with its sparkling hooks and groovy rhythmics. The shadowy drama of ‘Lie To Herself’ though allows space for ominous piano in that present day Gary Numan vein while manoeuvring a staggered lattice of traps.

But sparkling arpeggios act as the draw into ‘Grey’ with the chime of eerie bells alongside bass frequency bubbles for a chilling Eurocentric atmosphere… it is kind of pretty although something far more sinister lies behind the façade that might have more than a few shades… to close, ‘Hurt Like Me’ provides percussively the hardest song on the EP as Mari delivers an impassioned vocal to suit the powerful but distressing backdrop.

There’s a strange appealing romance and hope about this ‘Unimaginable Place’ which presents the best and most immediate body of work that Tom Shear and Mari Kattman have made together as HELIX. Hopefully, there will be more…

‘Unimaginable Place’ is available as a digital EP from https://helix.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HelixElectronic

https://www.instagram.com/themarikattman/

https://www.instagram.com/tom.shear.58/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
1 February 2024