Instrumental compositions are often said to paint a landscape rich enough to replace the lack of a lyrical portrait. The landscape Keith Kenniff paints on Helios' Eingya is certainly vibrant, but his subtlety effectively forces those paintings to be stark at times, which entices listeners to often feel lost. This is not to say that ambience is necessarily a fault of the album, but rather that the journey this forces the listener to take is most likely what Kenniff had intended.
Combining an abundance of ambient electronics with reserved acoustic guitar, Eingya clings to the oasis-in-the-desert formula. This succeeds in making the textured tracks that much more picturesque. Opening with "Bless This Morning Year," the album offers a promising preview of building intensity. Yet, by the time the bird chirps die down on the following track "Halving the Compass," it can be assumed that the aforementioned intensity is likely to be exchanged for tranquility.
This is quickly accepted, as songs such as "Dragonfly Across an Ancient Sky" feature beautifully layered instrumentation. The equally layered "Coast Off" features sparse vocals that are surprisingly well-placed. "Paper Tiger" is probably the most energetic track, thanks to a much-needed lively beat by this point on the album. Similarly, the chord changes in "The Toy Garden" are serene yet driving, suggesting the track would have made an excellent closer. Instead, Kenniff stacks much of the album with cloying albeit beautiful tracks.
THE HAPS: Kenniff doesn't surpass the compositions featured on 2004's Unomia, but still provides a well-written album. However, the lack of dynamics and intensity will disappoint some listeners.
