Heligoland debut EP re-release

Almost ten years ago, in June 2000 to be exact, Heligoland released a five song EP, our debut release.

After being out of print and unavailable for the last six or seven years we’re very pleased to announce a re-release for the EP.

The EP is available now on digital platforms such as iTunes, eMusic and Amazon with a physical re-release to follow later in the year. The EP re-release features new artwork and has been (re)mastered.

Listen/Buy the EP online at: iTunes | eMusic | Amazon

Looking back…

Listening to these tracks now nearly a decade on feels a lot like flicking through a box of old photos. As memories come to mind it seems like just yesterday that we were writing and recording these songs. Tapping out these words on a cold, wintery January evening in Paris it also seems a bit like it all happened in another lifetime.

Whilst many things were a little different back then – there was no iTunes Store, Google was mostly unheard of and discmans, walkmans and four-track recorders were the norm – some things have remained much the same. If you find yourself wanting to start a band, write songs and play a few shows you look around for some people with similar tastes or interests or just people you get along really well with. Invariably someone you know, a friend or family, will know someone who plays an instrument who might be interested. There’s always musician wanted ads too.

Through a combination of most of the aforementioned approaches and connections, Karen Vogt, Cameron Gellatly, myself, and a little later Chris Wright, found ourselves playing together on weekends and the odd weeknight evening after work in the living room of a share-house in the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Windsor.

Early band photo in Gladstone St., Windsor.

The songs on Heligoland’s debut EP are amongst some of the first songs the band wrote. As we hadn’t really settled on any one particular method of writing, the songs came together in a variety of ways.

“Lo Scavo” was pieced together in a way not dissimilar to how the band often writes now – everyone jamming together until one part or section appears, some more jamming to try and find some other sections and then editing/arranging the parts until it all seems to fit together. Cameron’s guitar melody here sets the tone for the song and the EP.

“Kuro” is a song in two parts, one half taken from a song that Karen had written sometime beforehand and the other half an entirely new and completely different section that seemed to fit well as a contrast or change in mood.

“Thunderbug” was an attempt at writing in a more abstract way without obvious verses and choruses. Prior to playing in Heligoland Karen had been singing predominantly in her lower vocal register. Whilst writing “Thunderbug” the mood and feeling of the music felt like it would lend itself towards some higher vocal harmonies. We twisted Karen’s arm a bit and with some encouragement she began to try singing in a higher register. Surprised by how much she enjoyed the experience, this went on to become part of Karen’s singing style.

“Effortlessly”, a song that was always very difficult to play live for some reason, was written in a similar way to “Lo Scavo”: assembled gradually from chord sequences and parts.

“When I Look Into The Sun” nods in the direction of ambient music with its volume swells and gently shifting atmospherics. We often used to play this song to open shows.

Prior to recording the EP Heligoland played half a dozen shows in Melbourne, mostly in cafes and small venues. The most memorable of these, for all the wrong reasons, was our third concert at the Rainbow Hotel (now known as The Cornish Arms) in Brunswick. Heligoland used to play very quietly, it wasn’t unusual for housemates in adjacent rooms to sleep through the band’s rehearsals. At this particular concert Heligoland was booked to play the opening slot for two punk bands. During soundcheck the engineer was a little perplexed and not entirely happy with the lack of overall volume emanating from the stage. At the time The Rainbow Hotel was primarily a “rock” venue with lots of punk and hard rock. The problem was that we really, really didn’t want to play our songs really, really loudly. During Heligoland’s set the engineer kept pushing the PA to try attain a respectably rock ‘n roll level of volume in the room until finally something blew. Upon finishing our last song and with the other two bands forced to use the onstage foldback as the front of house for their sets we discreetly packed up and left the venue as quickly as possible.

In concert at Sub Terrain Café, Melbourne – circa 1999/2000.

As was the case with the two song demo we recorded some months prior (twenty cassette copies only) and the band’s first album “Shift These Thoughts“, the debut EP was recorded and mixed by Cameron. The recording took place at the home of a good friend in Burwood East who kindly volunteered firstly his living room for some attempts at live takes and then later on his spare room for all the overdubs and mixing. Though we’d written, rehearsed and played the songs together quite a bit by then, recording was a new experience for three quarters of the band. Cameron however was an old hand when it came to the process and spent many evenings and weekends working and fine-tuning the mixes in an early version of Cubase VST.

The packaging for the EP was a little bit unusual. Karen came up with the idea of presenting the CD inside a hand-sewn cloth envelope with a button on the front. Rather than create five hundred cloth envelopes from a single roll of fabric and one style of button it seemed a much more interesting approach to use randomly sourced pieces of fabric and buttons scrounged from unwanted garments and purchased from second-hand clothes shops. Each copy was to have a unique combination of fabric and button. At concerts this looked wonderful – a merchandise suitcase full of small fabric envelopes in all manner of colours, textures and fabrics. The only slight catch was that Karen had to sew them all together, a slightly huge undertaking. Nonetheless, concert-goers seemed to love the idea of choosing a unique design to suit their own wardrobe tastes.

If you have a copy of the original pressing of the EP in it’s cloth envelope lurking somewhere in your CD collection send us a photo and we’ll post them on the website.

Copies of the EP were sent to street press, local radio, zines and a few places overseas including some of the early indie webzines. The press reaction was generally favourable and the first song on the EP “Lo Scavo” was even played a few times on JJJ (a national radio station in Australia) by Richard Kingsmill which came as a bit of a shock. Similarly surprising but also a little puzzling, Inpress magazine (Melbourne street press) reviewed the EP on three separate occasions in their Singles column:

“Bathed in reverb and suffused with atmosphere, all five tracks here are superb. The carefully-arranged soft guitar backdrops embrace all the best things about Talk Talk, late-night Radiohead and much of the 4AD back catalogue, while strong, purposeful songs float on top.”
- Anthony Horan

“As smooth and haunting as the Cowboy Junkies but far too good to be called derivative are Heligoland. Their self-titled EP comes in a beautifully made cloth envelope and is very difficult to remove from your CD player once inserted.”
-Fred E. Gostein

“This latest EP proves that not only can the band evoke gorgeous sound, they are also proficient songwriters. The opening track Lo Scavo, has the kind of guitar hook that you don’t even feel entering your skin – but just try and remove it once embedded!”
- Martin Jones

Of the five songs on the EP it seemed to be the opening track “Lo Scavo” that people were always commenting on so we decided to make a video for the song. A local filmmaker, Barney Whelan, was recruited for the project and a budget of $300 (or was it $200?) agreed upon. The band’s idea for the video was: scenery. There were to be no appearances by any band members, no story, no narrative, just scenery. A bit of gentle persuasion on the part of the director ensued and a vague storyline (of sorts) was formulated.

Featuring our friend Woody and filmed in the back streets of Windsor and at various locations on the Mornington peninsula, here is the “Lo Scavo” video:

‘Lo Scavo’ – Heligoland from Heligoland on Vimeo.

A little later the EP was followed by two 7″ releases, then a debut album “Shift These Thoughts“, and after that a second album “A Street Between Us“. Both “Shift These Thoughts” and “A Street Between Us” are now available again on digital platforms with additional mastering. Physical re-releases of both albums will follow in the near future.

Listen/buy “Shift These Thoughts” online at: iTunes | Amazon

Listen/buy “A Street Between Us” online at: iTunes | Amazon

Our thanks to Robin, Flo and soleil après minuit for their help with the re-release.

Band and concert photos by Yani Perotti. EP artwork/photography by fact244.

Right now we’re preparing for the release of Heligoland’s third album. More news on that coming very soon…

February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Steve

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