Born Heller

Born Heller | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 6, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Locust
• ASIN: B0001L1XG8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,421 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Born Heller use dissonance like punctuation, peppering their melodies with off-key commas and brutal exclamation points. Like a mirror image of Bert Jansch taking on the blues, this is British folk filtered through the hearts of two young Americans, and the overall effect is jarring. The songs are so unbelievably quiet that the slightest deviation can make the hairs on one's neck stand up, and it's this almost intrusive intimacy that make the Chicago duo's debut so impressive. Harpist, mandolin player, and vocalist Josephine Foster possesses the kind of voice that could stop an invading army. Her throaty yet delicate delivery has been rightly compared to Shirley Collins, but that great interpreter of traditional English music would never have uttered a line like "I want to know the world we live in." It's this lyrical -- and sometimes musical -- foot in the present that casts such a huge shadow over the other foot, which is firmly entrenched in the mud of the heathery fields of old. Bassist Jason Ajemian wields his instrument like a Swiss Army knife, comfortably sawing, bowing, and slapping throughout each hypnotic piece -- "Pansies, Will You Ever Grow?" features some truly nightmarish harmonics. When the pair play together they sound like an underworld version of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch, performing just as deftly but with a healthy dose of the avant-garde. Simpler songs like "Big Sky #4" and the beautiful "Left Garden" show a real flair for melodic songwriting and are a welcome break from some of the more difficult pieces, but there's an underlying menace waiting beneath each and every cut, making Born Heller a beautiful, honest, and utterly terrifying record. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ghost of shirley collins..., April 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Born Heller (Audio CD)

This is an out of nowhere surprise as far as I can tell. I only just heard this playing on the radio the other day before picking it up almost immediately. Their sound is sad, defiant but never mopey. An incredibly barren mystique exists here without ever sounding like so much feigned americana / alt-country stuff. I don't know much about the duo but there IS something extradordinarily beautiful happening here.

5.0 out of 5 stars Born Heller is Heavenly, February 26, 2006

By 

Mr. Lucy (San Luis Obispo, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born Heller (Audio CD)

I just did sound for a show in San Luis Obispo, CA at which these two performed and I have to say I was quite taken with the genuinous and integrity of their music. Beautiful melodies, compelling lyrics, a sense of something ancient and much bigger than themselves