HELM: Axis (CD)

A very welcome skull rinse from the London outlier, ‘Axis’ sees Luke back at the edge of the abyss, where, in his own words; “I tuned back in to working with noise techniques again: more primitive equipment, cheap FX, contact mics, noise boxes.” Gone is the colour of his ‘Chemical Flowers’, to be replaced by wickedly crudimentary atonalities and crankiest, hallucinatory spatialisation given shape and spirit by his hands on approach and its guest contributions by the likes of Lucy Railton (cello), Mark Morgan ov Sightings (guitar), Alex Tucker (vocals), and clammy skin crawling strings by the late, legendary John Hannon - Luke’s longtime collaborator and owner of the Essex studio where half of the record was laid down, before Luke put it together in his kitchen and living room. The final touches were lent by Randall Dunn’s masterful mixing and baked to a finish by Stefan Betke’s mastering.

Tracklist:

1. Para
2. Moskito
3. Crash
4. Repellent
5. Mole
6. Axis
7. Tower