Halley

Halley

Forget the Leaves, Autumn Will Change Us (Hooked on Sonics!) The latest bright hope to come streaking out of the Austin sky, Halley has put together a remarkable debut for Hooked on Sonics!, a local multimedia company also responsible for the sharp design of the album artwork and music videos. Opener "Adventures of George (Record Player Pt. 1)" is a bona fide attention-grabber, with its subdued groove that bursts into a strobe-light frenzy as a bombastic barrage of horns kicks in. Spoken-word samples and other strange sounds cut in and out of the mix as the infectious brass arrangement carries it to its conclusion. Then "Heart Attack on a One-Way Street" comes forward with a sugary sonic spazz-out. The frazzled stop-start attack and vocal mannerisms recall Mercury Rev's classic debut Yerself Is Steam in all its chaotic glory. This might be a damnation if Halley's cut didn't conjure up every bit of the overdriven psychocandied fun missing from the Rev repertoire of late. Then Halley drops some subtlety on us. "Movie Song -- Trailer Theme," a construction of laptop beats and piano, soars on the back of distorted whale-song screeches. Mellow moments that sound a bit too much like MercRev's Deserter's Songs are quickly redeemed by "As Cheap as Fake," on which a funereal vibe gives way to an angelic chorus and what sounds like harp strings. The grandiose 12-minute finale, "Kites Are Slow Downers," exudes a Sigur Ròs-like grandeur, with woozy vocals submerged beneath atmospheric layers that peel away in a voluminous landslide. A marvelous ending to a sparkling first outing.