Search - David Helpling, Jon Jenkins :: Treasure

Uplifting ambient music - perfect for daydreaming.

P. Kowalsky | Manassas, VA United States | 06/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I definitely think that these guys are on to something really cool here with this release. It sounds familiar, yet nothing like I've ever heard before. It's like "uplifting ambient" or something, with purposeful drones cast adrift in the lush ambience that supports an inspired musical form and design; majestic yet serene songs with intimate personal meaning yet to be made personal; glistening stringed instruments highlighting shadows cast by deep and dark harmonic chords. You won't find any Berlin-school arpeggios or '80s drum machines on this one!



My favorite tracks are "This Day Forward", "The Frozen Channel", and "The Knowing", each for different reasons, but all because they impart a sense of depth and breadth in more than just what I'm hearing. You know you're listening to something special when you find yourself "visualizing" against the soundtrack that's playing. That's what these tracks do for me, and I can't fully explain it.



Several other artists came to mind while listening to this fascinating disc, and if you like any of the following, I'd recommend you order this disc right away: Edward Shearmur, Patrick O'Hearn, Jeff Pearce, Cliff Martinez, Amethystium (Oystein Ramfjord), The Album Leaf, Steve Roach, Thom Brennan (certain sound elements), Ulrich Schnauss (certain stylistic elements). I'm sure you'll find many other references as well as you listen and imagine your own journeys.



What David and Jon have unleashed upon the world has elements of both of their excellent solo works, but formed together in an extremely fresh and intriguing new way. If what I've heard so far is any indication, this music could easily inspire me to get back into music making myself. I sincerely hope that this collaboration is the first of many yet to come, and that David and Jon are properly recognized for this magnificent and cinematic contribution to the ambient electronic music scene."

Bike-Ride-Soundtrack!

Thomas A. Lowther | Columbus, Ohio | 06/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Treasure has come along at just the right time to start my summer off right! When I ride my recumbent bike on the rural forested rail trails of central Ohio, I like to have peaceful relaxing music emanating from my cargo trailer. This is made possible and skip free by the use of my iPod boom box style player. (I never wear headphones while riding the bike. Not only is it unsafe, it covers up the lovely sounds of the birds, waterfalls and rustling leaves.) When quietly pedaling along side the streams snaking through the beautiful hills and valleys filled with lush tall trees, hearing this music is a perfect compliment to the visual experience of my isolated bicycle touring. It makes me feel as if I'm in my own movie with my own personal soundtrack accompanying my journey.



It's impossible to say what track is my favorite as they ALL are so good. If you like Helpling's "Sleeping on the Edge of the World," and Jenkins's "Beyond City Light" (another favorite bike-ride-soundtrack for me), then it's a no brainer that you'll absolutely LOVE "Treasure." You can't go wrong with this one. Even listeners new to this kind of genre should be able to appreciate this wonderful CD."

Masterpiece

Andrew Dale | Geneva, Switzerland | 12/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"David Helpling is becoming increasingly well known. His latest album, Treasure, a joint effort with Jon Jenkins, shows his skills at their highest ever. His extensive experience of film and media are evident in his masterful attention to detail and precision. Combined with his unique ability to convey depths of emotion and understanding, the result is a masterpiece that lives up to its title.



David's mastery of technique is second to none - comparison with others does nothing to convey the texture or balance of his creations, and the success of his DHM Design music company is testimony to his abilities. Look for his name in film credits (Trade-offs, Night Feeders and look out for Cold Storage when it appears - this is the best film work he has done).



David's compositions are crafted with great care and subtlety. They never flag, and through their subtle gradations of colour, texture and depth create a complex and strangely haunting landscape that slowly evolves to take the spirit to new plains. He achieves balance between so many elements - mood, texture, speed - that one feels in the presence of a great talent. The moods vary greatly, always intriguing and suggesting far more than meets the ear. Careful listening identifies many minor elements, like the tiny particles of colour in an impressionist painting. No one element predominates, but the overall effect conveys a very distinct identity.



His recent successes with film have confirmed the versatility of his talent: David is equally at ease composing for an Indian ear as he is for psychological thrillers and mysteries.



Treasure lives up to everything I have come to expect from David Helpling. His experience with film music is evident, as is his versatility and insistence on perfection. There is an immense range of emotion in the many varied tracks on this album, which resembles a journey through light and dark, at first into the cave of the album art, then continuing into a world of ice and finally home. Deep compassion in the title track is matched by deep reflection in the more meditative Frozen Channel and the introspective Now More Than Ever. David creates a detailed musical canvas suggesting great depth, compassion and wealth, while still managing to surprise and delight. Treasure is the perfect title.



Grand Collusion offers a soundscape canvas where explosive detail is picked out on piano and then dissolved into slide guitar. There is intrigue here, the opening of a story, perhaps, with a long history and drama. The title track is one of reconciliation and caress: a small child's delicate perfection and the hope it carries into the world, with a suggestion of the energy within.



The Knowing, which follows, begins with lengthy confusion - drifting through doubts in an effort to understanding some enigma, recollecting and accepting in cycles of thought before a distant light dawns and grows slowly into something more distinct, moving towards clear understanding, growing relentlessly and unstoppably to explode into an ecstacy of beauty conveyed by overdrive guitar - this is what lead guitar was created for! The climax is repeated again and again until the full weight of understanding here is finally accepted, and we move on, all doubts gone. This track never fails to send a huge rush of endorphins down my spine.



This first section is the light at the entrance: as we move further into the cave other details emerge of a more sombre hue, and the album changes to nocturnal mode with Beyond Words and Into the Deep. Music is beyond words, and far more eloquent at a basic level. "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture", said Frank Zappa, and as I try to describe this album I agree.



The cave echoes in Into the Deep, with strange creatures in the shadows and an eerie light suffusing the dark. Not a Soul, Not a Sound has a cinematographic quality - a landscape, in a world of ice perhaps, a unique frozen beauty fixed seemingly for an eternity. The ice persists in the following Frozen Channel, but here the displays are celestial, the aurora borealis streaming as passing seconds on piano echo over the silent waters.



Imperceptibly we enter Now More Than Ever, which recalls previous compositions. We are drifting, but memories flash into and out of our vision in what seems like a single moment explored in infinite detail. This Day Forward continues the exploration, but here there is an undertone of danger and confrontation, some final decision. Which is taken in The First Goodbye. Here as on previous albums the closing coda piece recapitulates the moods and conveys what David communicates best: understanding, final understanding.



David's compositions are crafted with great care and subtlety. They never flag, and through their subtle gradations of colour, texture and depth create a complex and strangely haunting landscape that slowly evolves to take the spirit to new plains. He achieves balance between so many elements - mood, texture, speed - that one feels in the presence of a great talent. The moods vary greatly, always intriguing and suggesting far more than meets the ear. Careful listening identifies many minor elements, like the tiny particles of colour in an impressionist painting. No one element predominates, but the overall effect conveys a very distinct identity.



His recent successes with film have confirmed the versatility of his talent: David is equally at ease composing for an Indian ear as he is for psychological thrillers and mysteries.



Treasure lives up to everything I have come to expect from David Helpling. His experience with film music is evident, as is his versatility and insistence on perfection. There is an immense range of emotion in the many varied tracks on this album, which resembles a journey through light and dark, at first into the cave of the album art, then continuing into a world of ice and finally home. Deep compassion in the title track is matched by deep reflection in the more meditative Frozen Channel and the introspective Now More Than Ever. David creates a detailed musical canvas suggesting great depth, compassion and wealth, while still managing to surprise and delight. Treasure is the perfect title.



Grand Collusion offers a soundscape canvas where explosive detail is picked out on piano and then dissolved into slide guitar. There is intrigue here, the opening of a story, perhaps, with a long history and drama. The title track is one of reconciliation and caress: a small child's delicate perfection and the hope it carries into the world, with a suggestion of the energy within.



The Knowing, which follows, begins with lengthy confusion - drifting through doubts in an effort to understanding some enigma, recollecting and accepting in cycles of thought before a distant light dawns and grows slowly into something more distinct, moving towards clear understanding, growing relentlessly and unstoppably to explode into an ecstacy of beauty conveyed by overdrive guitar - this is what lead guitar was created for! The climax is repeated again and again until the full weight of understanding here is finally accepted, and we move on, all doubts gone. This track never fails to send a huge rush of endorphins down my spine.



This first section is the light at the entrance: as we move further into the cave other details emerge of a more sombre hue, and the album changes to costurnal mode with Beyond Words and Into the Deep. Music is beyond words, and far more eloquent at a basic level. "Writing aboiut music is like dancing about architecture", said Frank Zappa, and as I try to describe this album I agree. Art should ennoble existence, make the human siginificant where the evidence suggests it is irrelevant.



The cave echoes in Into the Deep, with strange creatures in the shadows and an eerie light suffusing the dark. Not a Soul, Not a Sound has a cinematographic quality - a landscape, in a world of ice perhaps, a unique frozen beauty fixed seemingly for an eternity. The ice persists in the following Frozen Channel, but here the displays are celestial, the aurora borealis streaming as passing seconds on piano echo over the silent waters.



Imperceptibly we enter Now More Than Ever, which recalls previous compositions. We are drifting, but memories flash into and out of our vision in what seems like a single moment explored in infinite detail. This Day Forward continues the exploration, but here there is an undertone of danger and confrontation, some final decision. Which is taken in The First Goodbye. Here as on previous albums the closing coda piece recapitulates the moods and conveys what David communicates best: understanding, final understanding.



And all shall be well

And all manner of things shall be well.

When the tongues of flame are in-folded

Into the crowned knot of fire,

And the fire and the rose are one."