As I listen, I hear the melodious picking and gentle explorations of melody and then the rhythmic return to powerful chords that seem to form choruses. His lively, playful sounding style is imbued with humor exhibited in the titles: "Split Pea Personality Soup," "Golden Retrievers of Good Luck," and "What Waits Around Every Corner." Other titles seem to reflect the way he derives joy from the simple pleasures of life and observations inspired by nature: "Blackberry Forest," "The Stark Sun," "Elegant Grasshoppers," and "The Bread Song." Helland may be earthbound, but he certainly is not rootbound, having previously recorded with rock bands, folk rock and space music. Let's hope he keeps his sense of humor along with his considerable guitar picking skills. From the sound of it, he had fun making [Earthbound], I can tell you I'm having fun listening to it.

On his latest CD, Earthbound, multi instrumentalist Scott Helland has created a completely acoustic soundscape, one that blends, shifts and expands, weaves complex picking and strumming with lush melodies and staccato rhythms, all bound together by an undeniably punk sensibility. And surprisingly, he pleases from tracks 1 to 11. All of which deserve several listens. Simply put the man can play. Helland warms his listener up with track one, "Split Pea Personality Soup," a playful piece, before bursting from the corner with "Blackberry Forest," a sublime composition that gets better with each listen. He continues his momentum with a trio of bright, melodic tunes, "Spring Ahead, Fall Back," "Conversation Piece," and "Golden Retrievers of Good Luck." Next Helland grooves through the title track, before taking it down with the pretty and searching "The Stark Sun" and "The Bread Song." He then brings the album to a finish with three disparate, but pleasantly intertwining tunes, the classically inspired "Elegant Grasshoppers," the melancholic and overcast "12-26-2000" and the closer, a hopeful and lush tune called "What Waits Around Every Corner." A modern-day troubadour, Helland has released a fine recording with Earthbound, one that is worthy of attention and shows the promise of much more inspired and interesting music to come from this graduate of the punk rock school of music. Listen and listen again, and go see him live, you'll be glad you made the journey.

A down to earth sense of rhythm with inspiring leads emoting progression in each and every track. EARTHBOUND, an awesome acoustic guitar composition. (Programmers) Play the whole cd now.

This is a very Good CD to mellow out to and think. From one musician to another, this is very nice writing and composition. keep up the music!