Song of the Day: Helium “Baby’s Going Underground”

Helium

Song of the Day: Helium “Baby’s Going Underground”

Helium was a Boston-based indie band that served as the primary songwriting vehicle for singer/guitarist Mary Timony. The group ran from 1992-1998, turning out a pair of delightfully feminist Sonic Youth-influenced LPs and a number of EPs along the way. Featuring occasionally free-associative lyrics that were both poetic and often shot-through with real intent, in a lot of ways Helium were like a better version of Pavement and probably deserved more notoriety than they got during their too-brief existence.

“Baby’s Going Underground” is an album cut from their 1995 debut LP, The Dirt of Luck and is a free-flowing guitar freak-out of a track that is held together Timony‘s sharp songwriting. The song features sheets of distorted and oddly-tuned guitars colliding with Timony‘s slightly obtuse indie space poetry. The song eventually segues into majestically rolling waves of sonic dissonance as the band holds on for dear life. Exhilarating!

 
Helium