Helen's 'Dead Shark II' Proves Some Reunions Are Worth the Decade-Long Wait
Liz Harris — best known for her solo project Grouper — reconvenes Helen for the first time since 2015’s The Original Faces, joined again by Scott Simmons on bass and Jed Bindeman on drums. “Dead Shark II” arrives alongside the title track from the forthcoming album Linda’s Head, due October 2 on Kranky, and the chemistry between the three of them sounds completely undiminished.
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Simmons’ bass rolls round and forgiving underneath the haze rather than cutting through it, giving the track a tide-pulled momentum.
The Spatial Dynamics: This is classic Helen — guitars smeared into a fog that never fully obscures the melody underneath, twee sensibilities poking through the shoegaze murk like sunlight through curtains.
Standout Performance
Harris’s vocal does the heaviest lifting while sounding like it’s barely trying, sung from somewhere just behind the mix, more felt than parsed. That restraint is exactly what makes the song’s chorus swell land as hard as it does when it finally surfaces.
Why It’s Certified
Bindeman never rushes the pocket, and the patience pays off — the chorus arrives without warning and without excess, a wash of guitar that blooms and recedes in a few bars and becomes the whole song’s emotional center. Eleven years is a long time to wait for a band to pick back up exactly where they left off, but that’s what “Dead Shark II” delivers. If this is any indication of what’s coming on Linda’s Head, the wait for the full record is going to be very much worth it. Certified great.