Hælos

Some things come together immediately. Others take a little time.

HÆLOS, a London-based three-piece of Arthur Delaney, Dom Goldsmith and Lotti Benardout, fall into the latter bracket. The way the music comes out sounding, it wouldn’t make sense for it to have happened any other way. Considered, but emotional, each of their vividly cinematic tracks seems to map the long journey from desperation to relief, stress to sanctuary – the basic dynamic of all urban life. If London tends to be a meandering, alienating hometown, there is an overwhelming feeling to HÆLOS’ music of three musicians having found each other in this precise city at this precise time. In that sense, HÆLOS are very much a band that speaks of modern big city life.

“We’ve all worked independently for a number of years,” say the band, referring to the musical projects all three had pre-HÆLOS, “but to come together and find such a strong connection between us has been really powerful – HÆLOS felt like the therapy we all needed.”

You get the impression that the band needed to go through the emotions of previous projects to get to where they are now. There have been many factors along their individual journeys which has coloured where they are now. Factors that you hear about often enough in music – heartbreak, drug addiction, loss and disappointment. The difference with HÆLOS’ music is that you really feel these emotions in the foreground – lyrically and musically – through the honesty of the vocals, with all three members singing in unison.

Calling to mind the same twilit urban landscapes stalked by the music of Massive Attack, Portishead and the rest of those electronic artists who spent the 90s exploring the pain after the rave, HÆLOS music sounds meditative; a way to cope. Amidst a club culture that fetishises the drop but has forgotten about the comedown, those rituals and coping strategies are more vital than ever.