Born Heller Born Heller

[Locust; 2004]

Rating: 4.5/5

Styles: folk, experimental
Others: The Children’s Hour, Shirley Collins, Cat Power


Josephine Foster, responsible for the sweet, crystalline "Little Life" on Devendra Banhart's recent Golden Apples of the Sun compilation, has a clear and true voice that will melt your heart if you let it. The closest comparison I'd offer would be a slightly higher pitched-but less fragile Chan Marshall. She sings the sad songs of Born Heller with such grace and poise that the already spare instrumentation could almost be absent and the songs would still entice.

That said, there is a slightly menacing quality to the record, first coming about with the discordant "Good Times." Like with Joanna Newsom's Milk-Eyed Mender, this is music that trades in raw beauty tempered with raw blemishes. There is the tendency on the part of many listeners to shrink away from music like this, but it must be said that it reaches a certain level of poignancy if you stick it out. A great comparison would be Bjork's last song on Debut, "Anchor." Using just horns and her voice, the song seems arrestingly bare at first, but once you get into the harmonic structure, its transcendent beauty can easily eclipse the more accessible tracks on the album.

The other vocalist of Born Heller, Jason Ajemian, first comes up for the minute and a half "First Kiss." His singing, while not as stirring as Foster's, lends a welcome bit of variety to the middle of the release. "The Left Garden" sounds so authentically early-century folk that it could've been featured in O Brother, Where Art Thou and been right at home. This is not a very long release, but instead of being cheap and griping about EP-length LPs (sorry Eluvium), I'll say that it's a perfect arrangement of songs, whatever the cost. It culminates with Ajemian and Foster singing triumphantly and longingly on the intimate "Big Sky 4." Here his vocals are much more powerful than on "First Kiss," letting his lines soar with potent, undeniable passion. Born Heller's a profoundly subtle gem, and it's one that's definitely worth your money, time, and patience.

1. I Want To
2. No More Lamps in the Morning
3. Mountain Song
4. Good Times
5. I Am a Guest In Here
6. Lulu Fellows
7. First Kiss
8. The Left Garden
9. Pansies Will You Ever Grow
10. Lullabye 5
11. Big Sky 4