Album Review: ”Sabrina Nickels” by Helicopter Leaves
by Brittany Davis
Anthony Vaccaro from Beach Bunny has released a new album under his solo project, Helicopter Leaves. The title record Sabrina Nickels is named after a childhood friend who died of cancer, with Vaccaro stating that he had a heavy connection with her. She changed his life by taking him to shows and he even felt comfortable enough to show his music to her over the years. This song is the perfect way to thank someone who opened up a whole new perspective for him.
The album walks you through the feelings of nostalgia, the ups and downs that come with life, the acceptance that sometimes things don’t always work out as planned, such as friendships, falling in love, and finding things that suit the person you’ve become. This album feels like a more mature approach to coming of age. Sonically, the album changes throughout the songs, from dreamy twinkles of guitars, heavy guitar leads, into soft piano tones. The music is constantly an easy listen from track to track, leading into another slight sonic change. Throughout this album, you’ll hear elements of alternative rock, indie rock, and even bits of shoegaze. The guitars are heavily leading each song on top of Vaccaro’s soft whining alt- folk indie voice. The bass is hidden behind the guitar, but stands out loudly with the drums, which are soft yet punchy to their core when heading towards the chorus.
Opening track off the record It Really Never Did is such a punch to the gut, with feeling less than in a friendship or a relationship often growing apart because it’s not the same anymore. This is the typical in-and-out of a one-sided perspective on the dynamic. This track is light yet deep musically with the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar whining, bass lines holding loud and strong while the drums controlling the emotions of the song.
The second track, Feeling Nothing Is Worse, feels so airy while steadily guiding us into a bopping beat. The song is so incredibly upbeat with such sadness in the lyrics. The song tackles the euphoric feelings at first then slowly, the light gets drained. Leading you through the emotional cycle, until you completely have nothing left to give, leading an explosive end. Stand out lyrics that cement the emotions of feeling small in the relationship: “Deep down it haunts you like when you were little a constant conversation of pauses is it okay because it has to be?”
The third track, Sorry From Now On, is such an emotional standout track lyrically; you get to look inside of Vaccaro’s mind and heart. It’s the constant guilty overthinking of ‘Was I in the wrong? How could I be better? Was that as harsh as it seemed?’ Or even not realizing how you could have hurt someone. This track is a statement of how nobody is perfect and how to move forward. Oftentimes it’s hard to admit these emotions and take accountability for the way things ended up. \The fourth track from the album, Moreoff More Off Than On, opens with drums, deep bass strums, loud guitar strums being guided with a melodica keyboard giving the song new life compared to the other indie alternative songs previously. This song feels like the experimental track that doesn’t quite fit on the album, but it’s a fun one that always makes an impression standing out sonically among the rest.
Track nine Dreaming About Everyone But You is such an interesting way to express how a relationship has lost its spark - understanding it's just not working out. The musical aspect is a bit more bubbly, with a fixed loud, whiny guitar, with added layers of distortion. Concluding the album is another standout track, different from everything heard previously on this journey. Self-Reliance opens with dropped measures to give off the dark gloomy vibe followed by a distorted guitar, two count drums, and loud bass tones showing off this shoegazey track. This album feels like an vulnerable honest open letter of gratitude, apologies, grace, lessons learned, and nostalgic memories to everyone in Vaccaro’s life past and present from family to friends.
For fans of: Pavement, The Front Bottoms, Wisp, Modest Mouse, and Dinosaur Jr.
