A Guide For the Perplexed

'A Guide For The Perplexed' is the new album from Drew McConnell's Helsinki, his second following the 2014 DIY release of 'Coast Of Silence'. As the name may suggest Drew McConnell's Helsinki is the side project of Drew McConnell, bass player in Babyshambles and musician to the stars, judging by his vivacious CV and the rollcall of musicians on this here record. For as well as the guest artists such as Pete Doherty, Albert Hammond Jr, Fionn Regan and Emma Gillespie, the free-flowing Helsinki band vibe incorporates the stellar talents of drummer Seb Roachford (Polar Bear), double bassist Spencer Brown (Andy Sheppard), guitarist Matt Park (Mystery Jets), keyboardist Stephen Large (Squeeze, Paul Heaton), percussionist Jamie Morrison (The Noisettes, Stereophonics) and violinists Johnny Fielding (Larrikin Love) and Gillian Maguire (Soko, Swim Deep). These are the industry's backroom dreamers helping to haul Drew into the limelight. Indeed the sweet irony is that the lead-off single is the terrific 'Rising Heights', released on February 23rd, in which Drew stars on his vocal lonesome. Like the rest of 'A Guide For The Perplexed' it is a song with its heart on its tattered sleeve and its tattered sleeve reaching for the ragged sky, a coy melody uncurling from a nonchalant gumbo of organic acoustic soundscapes which are jaunty and sulky and trampy and ever-so-gently riotous, frequently all at the same time. At one choice moment in 'Choices' you will experience the exotique sounds of French reggae, and nothing will ever be the same again.