I'll 'fess up - I had no idea what a "Heliopolis" was either. But enlightenment came in the discovery that it was "an ancient city in northern Egypt; centre of worship of the sun god Ra". Which sort of makes sense when the lyrics reveal a dreamy tale of alien abduction to Heliopolis. Of course.
Edinburgh five piece Aberfeldy make dreamy, boy-girl, harmony choral pop music in the old-fashioned sense. Recorded using primitive techniques (well, one microphone) lends this wee tune a fresh-out-the-paddock feel, and it canters around an unplugged menu of acoustic verse with indie pop chorus. Rather beautiful, gentle acoustic sensibilities keep this grounded as Riley Briggs' falsetto swoops above charmingly amateur-ish girly backing vox while a tense theremin sound swoops low overhead.
While not immediately essential, Helipolis does have enough sunshine pop charms to lure you back for another ride, though never quite reaching the destination of greatness. It is, however, an ideal introduction to explore their debut album Young Forever, out later this year for all you hippy X-Files fans out there.
more 