Four and a half years after their excellent "Keep Your Eyes Ahead", Portland duo THE HELIO SEQUENCE announce their fifth album, "Negotiations". These new compositions were written, recorded, and produced by singer-guitarist BRANDON SUMMERS and drummer-keyboardist BENJAMIN WEIKEL. The sound is deeper and warmer due to the acquisition of vintage equipment to replace that destroyed during the flooding of their recording studio in 2009. The songwriting has become richer, as have the creative methods. Inspired by SINATRA's "Suicide Album" era, the band formulates its internal dialogues (hence "Negotiations"): solitude, memory, hope. But more than anything, this album is an ode to beauty and the possibility of a new beginning.