Helium Vola – Wohin?

Whilst doing research into all the different meanings of the word Wohin, I came across a sentence which contained it that seems to sum up this album quite pertinently: Wohin wollt Ihr denn, ich brauch keinen Beifall; ich schreib Programme die zur heutigen Welt passen.

I write the code that fits the world today.

Now this is a rather funny statement, because if there is one thing Helium Vola vehemently don't fit into, it would be the world of today. Originally undertaken some ten years ago now as a Medieval continuation of the work he began with Qntal, Helium Vola's releases have been volatile pieces of art which challenge the listener to not only enjoy, but endure. Wohin? is very much in line with what you've heard from this band before and yet it is another example of Horn pushing his machines to their limit yet again. We have another nineteen compositions to parse through now, nineteen new entries into the strangely captivating realm of excesses.

And yet, somehow this time around with Wohin, Helium Vola do fit into the world of today (albeit bizarrely), particularly if you take into account the feast and famine trajectory it charts throughout it's massive run. Some of these songs are gorgeously opulent, crammed with soaring vocals and divinely decadent arrangements... others are the merest pulse of a rhythm with whispered, raspy shards of words. He may have become formulaic with Deine Lakaien, but the master is in full possession of his powers every time he works under this name. Horn had stated on the 20 Years of Electronic Avant Garde DVD that he may perhaps, require a new system for making his music. This is definitely true of what he does with Veljanov, but it could not be further from that same truth with Helium Vola.

This project of his, over the years, has gone from just Carmina Burana's greatest hits given a modern twist to where we now find it: taking the classical concepts and theories of yester-century and applying them to where we're at now. It is an unnerving realization to understand how little has changed in the intervening years. Oh, serfdom may have been outlawed and titles long forgotten but there can be no denying that the rigidly defined societies of those days still exist. Do yourself a favor if you really want to understand what's going on here, look around at your own life and try to see where you call home. Where is your land, where is that door you walk through to forget everything going on outside.

By putting a question mark at the end of the title, Helium Vola throw down the gauntlet at their listeners and ask quite plainly: are we relevant, do we belong. Is there still a need for what we do.

Absolutely.