herbal tea – Hear As The Mirror Echoes – Album Review
by Killian Laher

herbal tea (all lowercase) is the artist name for UK musician Helena Walker.  She has crafted nine pieces of blissfully woozy, dreamy pop.  It opens with the soft, relaxing Seventeen, which drifts into view and soars gently, resonating long after the track finishes.  Like the aural equivalent of light drizzle.  Most of the tracks consist of Walker’s laconic vocals over softly strummed guitar on the likes of Grounded and Garden.  Kitchen Floor (4 A.M.) belies its title to deliver some of the most blissed-out music this side of Beach House.

Other highlights include the warm, fuzzy growl of Submarine and the gentle guitar picking of Driving Slow.  Frank is impossibly gorgeous – a guitar strummed over a bed of synth and the merest hint of guitar fuzz.  The album rounds off with Kara, possibly the most fully realised track and one that seems to be about to head off into another, uncharted direction with the keyboard-heavy outro.

It’s a very promising album that doesn’t fight for your attention, but just creeps in under your skin and stays there.

Seventeen