Keep Your Eyes Ahead
by The Helio Sequence
  • Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Jan 29, 2008
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Alternative Press
    90
    It's the most solid album in the group's discography, haunting with moments of near perfection. [Mar 2008, p.140]
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  2. Filter
    86
    On their latest release since 2004's "Love and Distance," they seem to have figured out that it might be more effective to highlight the subtlety and grace of writing and arranging. [Winter 2008, p.96]
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  3. The A.V. Club
    83
    It's a lot of sound for two guys (singer-guitarist Brandon Summers and drummer Benjamin Weikel), suggesting that every minute since 2004's "Love And Distance" was utilized to perfect the pair's already steady hand at soaring, addictive melodies, pleasant layers of guitar and keyboards, and clean, visceral drumming.
  5. Drowned In Sound
    80
    An album whose deep felt emotion and effortless execution proves that there’s nothing like a little trial and tribulation to get the artistic synapses firing.
  6. Billboard
    80
    This confident piece of work is like mannah from the heavens for college rock fans, freshening up loose, rhythmic song structures with a charming lo-fi aesthetic.
  7. NOW Magazine
    80
    Much of Keep Your Eyes Ahead, like the softly plucked 'Shed Your Love' or the Dylanesque 'Broken Afternoon,' could easily backdrop drippy TV dramas, but that isn’t necessarily a knock. Both are beautiful tunes.
  8. Pitchfork
    76
    Even when it fails, Keep Your Eyes Ahead has a refreshing maturity and presence, old enough to admit that folk jamboree and synth-rock can coexist, hopeful enough to think "Joshua Tree," or at least "Ocean Rain," was a really good idea.
  9. Prefix Magazine
    75
    Keep Your Eyes Ahead could easily be seen as the result of making the best out of a bad situation and succeeding in spades.
  10. Tiny Mix Tapes
    70
    The Helio Sequence have finally produced not just a collection of songs, but an album.
  11. Under The Radar
    70
    Keep Your Eyes Ahead is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. [Winter 2008, p.82]
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  12. Dusted Magazine
    70
    The songs hover around the four-minute mark, and are economical in their implementation, with an overall sheen that does occasionally come close to overdoing it.
  13. AllMusic
    70
    If "Love and Distance" was the album that pushed the Helio Sequence off the rails, Keep Your Eyes Ahead is the sound of the duo getting back on track.
  14. Delusions of Adequacy
    70
    Keep Your Eyes Ahead is certainly a rewarding venture as it contains enough amiable and alluring dream-pop, with ample atmospheric charm, to overlook it's few weaknesses.
  15. Almost Cool
    68
    It seems like in the process of tightening up their sound, the group also left out some of the more over-the-top qualities that inhabited their past releases. Keep Your Eyes Ahead sounds a lot more warm, but at the same time is more safe as well.
  16. Spin
    60
    Keep Your Eyes Ahead maintains a dense soundscape with electronic tinges, but adds a fresh, succinct tone, trimming songs to four minutes tops.
  17. Mojo
    60
    With Keep Your Eyes Ahead Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel have pushed their fringes out of the way to display a new focus. [Mar 2008, p.112]
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  18. Q Magazine
    60
    The Helio Sequence add lucioous electronic icing to their songs but too often this mearly masks predictable indie rock. [Mar 2008, p.104]
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  19. PopMatters
    60
    With each record that it makes, the Helio Sequence sounds less like a duo and more like a highly evolved studio project, its ping-ponging, wave-cresting pulses of staccato rhythm taking flight one refrain at a time.
  20. Austin Chronicle
    50
    Unfortunately, Keep Your Eyes Ahead, the pair's fourth album, suffers from multiple personality disorder.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. CodyE.
    Mar 9, 2008
    10
    To all those that haven't checked this CD out, please do. It's absolutely amazing. In the process of checking out Love and Distance To all those that haven't checked this CD out, please do. It's absolutely amazing. In the process of checking out Love and Distance right now, which I hear is just as good.… Full Review »
  2. PB.
    Feb 19, 2008
    3
    this is music is like cotton candy. give me a proper follow-up to young Effectuals!
  3. SeanW.
    Feb 19, 2008
    9
    I never even heard of this band until a couple weeks ago. It took a few listens before it really hit me, but as I was giving song ratings in I never even heard of this band until a couple weeks ago. It took a few listens before it really hit me, but as I was giving song ratings in itunes, I kept giving every song 4 or 5 stars and I thought "Hey, this whole album is excellent." It gets better and better with repeated listenings, and it's caused me to go back and check out their earlier albums. It's really just beautiful, great music.… Full Review »
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