|
 |
Decibel Magazine January 2010 By Jeff Treppel Helen Money Chicagoan extreme cellist is so money that she made it her name Up until now, if you wanted some cello in your metal, there was really only one place to go—and as much as this writer digs Apocalyptica, it’s nice to have alternatives. Enter Helen Money (a.k.a. Alison Chesley), whose raw, minimalist stylings make her the lo-fi Xasthur to Apocalyptica’s Dimmu Borgir bombast. Chesley laughs about the comparison. “Apocalyptica are geared more towards the spectacle and what looks cool, but if you’re into more—I don’t want to say ‘substance’— maybe something that’s more pure emotion, something that’s not as polished… I don’t want to dis Apocalyptica, I think they’re awesome at what they do, but I’m coming from more of a personal place.” Helen Money isn’t exactly metal (her main inspirations are SST guys like Bob Mould and the Minutemen), but she sure ain’t classical. With her music reminiscent of a one-woman Kronos Quartet or the soundtrack to an avant-garde horror flick, it’s no wonder that Chesley has been tapped to open for Earth and provide strings for Anthrax and Plague Bringer. “When I was in my 20s and listening to a lot of music, I wasn’t necessarily listening to metal, but I feel like that audience has kind of adopted me,” she says. “I feel really honored because that audience really wants to feel something when they hear music. When I listen to music, I want to connect with it—not in my head, but in my soul.” And she doesn’t take her songwriting lightly. These compositions are supposed to say something, even if it means that Chesley has to overdub herself or just strip down to basics. “I was listening to John Coltrane, and he has this recording called ‘Alabama,’ about these three girls that died in a fire down in Alabama in the ’60s. He was able to really capture those emotions [of loss], and I wondered if I could as well… I also wanted to see if I could communicate something without all of my pedals, just acoustic.” She certainly found the right place to record her second album, In Tune (Table of the Elements): Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio. Chesley also had the esteemed Greg Norman (Pelican, Neurosis) engineer and Sanford Parker (Minsk, Yakuza) do the mix, so even though you can hear every bow scrape, you know that it’s by design. “I wanted [Norman] to get everything on tape because I felt like it was more present, more human. I actually like recordings where you can hear people making mistakes.” Chesley doesn’t feel mistaken in her judgment of her new fan base, however: “[Metal fans] are some of the most sensitive, intelligent people. They don’t only listen to metal; they’re into all kinds of music. It’s interesting. I feel like I’ve kind of found a home.” |