HÆLOS release their second album, ANY RANDOM KINDNESS, on 10 May via Infectious Music. The album examines the search for connection in an increasingly fractured world and is the follow up to 2016’s intricately-layered, trip hop-influenced FULL CIRCLE, a debut album “that both cements them in a genre and leaves them room to grow” [Pitchfork]. In conjunction with the album announcement, HÆLOS share a new song, KYOTO, and the accompanying video.
The first full album cycle for HÆLOS was a baptism of fire, and the year-long creation of ANY RANDOM KINDNESS pushed the band to the edge and back again. On winding up the FULL CIRCLE tour in January 2017 the trio [LOTTI BENARDOUT, ARTHUR DELANEY and DOM GOLDSMITH] returned to London and installed touring guitarist DANIEL VOLDOSOLA as a full-time member of the band, his classical background and technical prowess bringing a new level of musicality and equilibrium to the band.
For the album, HÆLOS reassessed their creative approach, conducting songwriting experiments and writing a song an hour or finishing a track and then stripping it down and completely re-doing it. Delaney returned to writing on acoustic guitar, while Goldsmith retreated into his love of dance music and the minimal techno of Ricardo Villalobos. The band recorded the album with producer Orlando Leopard at Baltic Studios in East London and at their home studio, and it was mixed by Matt Wiggins [Glass Animals] and Marta Salongi [The xx, Bjork]. The latter part of the recording was especially tense, with many near break-ups. However, this process led to a new, optimistic perception of each other, and music that explored the push and pull of relationships. A new, increasingly dance-floor oriented direction to their sound emerged.
Throughout the album, HÆLOS refer to different facets that affect the modern world: the isolating nature of technology and social media; the looming climate change; their relationships with each other; and corrupt politics as heard on KYOTO, a glitchy yet catchy slice of electronica that critiques politicians who prioritise economics above the environment.
ANY RANDOM KINDNESS shows a newly developed HÆLOS, one that’s eager to push forward.
