On Zoom's second (and last) CD, they dropped the distortion in favor of a clean, tight, and anxious sound. Produced by
Greg Sage of
the Wipers, many of these songs feature some deceptively complex arrangements and conflicting time signatures. The end of "Balboa's Cannon," for example, is so smooth that the 5/4 versus 4/4 outro doesn't get in the way or distract your fingers if you're tapping along -- it just sounds good. Zoom, by this point, was able to tactfully fuse both surf guitar and angular new wave dissonance with their punk rock roots in a way that sounds neither retro nor simply patchwork. As a result,
Helium Octipede is a very smart, very fluid, and very fun record not unlike, perhaps,
the Talking Heads'
More Songs About Buildings and Food or
Polvo's
Today's Active Lifestyles. The release of
Helium Octipede was met with next to no promotion and next to no touring, leading to, among other things, the band's demise. Quite an unfortunate fate for a very fine record and, as a result, a lost treasure of early-'90s indie guitar rock. It holds up well against the best records of the genre. ~ Brandon Burke