Both onstage and in the studio, The Joyful Apocalypse is an exploration of Helin and his place in Europe. What does it mean to be a European in the 21st Century? How did we get from THERE to HERE?

Helin has joined forces with expat lyricist Will Shade, an American who brings both a seedy decadence and nihilistic air to the proceedings. This collaboration is the foundation of the Joyful Apocalypse. These English language songs are rife with pop hooks all the while demanding an accounting of the listener. Blink and you’ll miss it.

You might hear echoes of Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf or even Britpop, but in the end it’s the tension between Helin’s power pop earworms and Shade’s unrelenting cynicism that creates such a unique beast. And it is indeed a strange animal. The songs strike one as coming from both 50 years ago and 50 minutes from now. They sound like tomorrow. Witness it yourself.