Helium

"Helium is Gregory Curvey, mastermind behind long-time Spin Cycle faves Luck of Eden Hall, but stepping out here with what is less a solo album, and more a whole new notion – prog rock unplugged.  Or, as Curvey prefers to put it, “electricity free.”

It’s a wry notion, especially if one recalls British DJ John Peel’s early condemnation of ELP as “a waste of electricity.”  But there is no monster moog inflected classical navel-gazing going on here; if anything, Custard Flux feels more like something XTC might have hatched, had they only had other plans for Nigel.  

The opening “Hit Parade” is certainly a pumping piece of pop, and while the rest of the album is certainly a lot less over-excited (well, mostly), that impression does not stray far.  From the folk-in-space “La Mort” and the Beatles-y “Out of Phase,” to the delectably convoluted “Shire of Gingham” (Ozric Tentacles meet Blackmore’s Night), it’s an album that wanders across a multitude of emotions, and the fact that each one feels like a fresh peak is further evidence of its overall eccentricity."  Continued...

Here at IDHAS, we are big admirers of the magnificent Psych Pop purveyors, Luck Of Eden Hall. We also love Curvey's latest project, Custard Flux. So we thought it was about time that we caught up with the great man. Mick found out all about Custard Flux, including a track by track breakdown of the Helium album and much more.

Mick: So you moved from Chicago to Detroit. That must have been quite an upheaval for you both physically and emotionally.

Curvey: Yes.  I really had no desire to leave Chicago, and my house that I’d been pouring my heart and soul into for ten years. But my wife was really burned out from working for the City of Chicago for twenty years and she was receiving job offers from all around the country.

So we decided to make the move for her career.  I thought I could handle it, but it has really taken a toll on me psychologically.  Detroit has a great music history, but I haven’t had much luck finding local musicians to play with and it’s been quite depressing.

Mick: So how did the Custard Flux project first germinate in your mind?

Curvey: My friend Lee Klawans, a great photographer and man of many talents, was managing an estate sale in Chicago, where they were selling an old harmonium, or pump organ.  He told me that I should see it and that I’d fall in love with it, so I rented a trailer and drove from Detroit to Chicago to have a look."  Continued...

"From the heart of the English countryside via Detroit.

Custard Flux is the new project from Gregory Curvey of The Luck of Eden Hall.  Based in Detroit, it seems a safe bet to guess that Curvey may be something of a musical Anglophile.  The premise behind the project is to make music using instruments that don't require electricity, so that means a lot of Harmonium, acoustic guitars, upright bass, and drums. The result is a sound that blends psychedelic and the Canterbury scene with early Genesis and XTC, Happily, Curvey's songwriting is strong enough that while he wears his influences on his sleeve - in the track Golden Opportunity he sings about watching Soft Machine in a field - Helium is full of memorable melodies. The folky Forevermore is lovely with Curvey sounding like a young Peter Gabriel, and La Mort is just lush with it's overlapping guitar parts. The only quibble would be the slightly flabby drum sound, but Curvey has made an album full of warmth and whimsy." Continued...