helen island - Form and Value (2026)

Cult DIY alt.pop unit Helen Island double down on their mixtape for Untitled (Recs) with a set of signature morsels refracting dancehall, Memphis rap, post-punk funk and hyperpop thru an MDMA crystal lens - RIYL Devon Rexi, Pinkpanthress, Gavsborg, CINDY.
Building on acclaim for their trio of EPs with Knekelhuis, Léopold Collin’s Helen Island hustles seven slices of bedroom pop ephemera dusted with his feel for ohrwurm hooks, grooves and incidental details that add up to a compelling, pulpy, and poetic sort of short story. The Paris-based artist displays sharpened pop talons on all counts, variously puckering up signature, flighty vox on cuts ranging from icy chamber dancehall bop ‘Common Sens’ to the ambient-pop swoon of ‘protect+’, taking in elisions of post-punk and dare-to-differ dancehall a la Gavsborg on ‘shaia look at me now’, and a piquant disco number ‘J.O.Y.C.E. dilemma’, plus the sweet nothings of ‘Memoria’, and rap echoed via witch house styles on ‘Solar Soul November’. Can’t wait until he tidies his bedroom (studio) again if this is the result.