Taking their name from a nautical term for tacking a sailboat, Seattle's Helms Alee meld jangly shoegaze with sludge metal to create a hybrid sound all their own. Emerging in the late 2000s, the band's loose, melodic report simultaneously evokes the effervescent discordance of the Pixies and the pounding heaviness of Big Business and the Melvins. The lighter side of their work was most audible on early releases such as 2011's Weatherhead, while they grew both heavier and more stylistically diverse on later LPs like 2019's Noctiluca, and they explored the creative possibilities of the studio on 2022's Keep This Be the Way.