Portland band The Helio Sequence seem to want to revolutionise the music industry. Of course, that's probably true of most bands out there, since nobody really wants to be in a derivative band that endlessly retreads old ground (well, except for those yobbos who formed an AC/DC tribute band down the street from me last year. Luckily, after a generous quantity of alcohol had been consumed, they forgot about their band and got back to watching football, rather than keeping me awake at night). However, The Helio Sequence on their third album "Love and Distance" have crafted three quarters of an hour's worth of very earnest, very mature indie pop, that unfortunately just comes off as being bland and just a little bit insipid.

The minds behind the group, Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel have stated in numerous interviews their desire to come up with something different, and when the first bars of Harmonica Song begin to play, it seems like they might have hit upon it. A densely packed layer of electronic sound throbs away in the background, while, predictably enough, a harmonica squeals away over the top of everything. The casually sung vocals and bright guitar arpeggios build upon this foundation, and it all comes together to form a very good song.

From there though, things start to slide. The very next track, Repeater is a painfully generic slab of electronic-dream-pop that didn't do much for me, and the same can be said of the next tracks, Don't Look Away and Let It Fall Apart. If, somehow, you manage to last all the way to Everyone Knows Everyone without rewinding back to the first track, you'll have surmised that what sounded great in the first six minutes of the album now sounds quite drab and monotonous.

The problem here isn't with the technical execution, the composition here is impeccable, and the production sounds crystal clear. The problem is with the whole intent of the album. Rather than having the raw, multi-layered energy of a band like My Bloody Valentine, the album sounds like the possible result of Thom Yorke attempting to record a solo album of pop songs while he was in his "Kid A" phase. Each song becomes more characterless than the last, there's nothing which makes each track stand out from the others, which is pretty much essential when you're recording bright, supposedly accessible music like this.

Thankfully, if you manage to sit through the entire record, you'll be treated to the closing track, Looks Good (But You Looked Away), a song which finally manages to get all the elements right. But apart from the blips of talent and promise which bookend the album, "Love and Distance" is ultimately a disappointing listen. The talent is there though, so hopefully the band will be able to deliver something better with album number four.