Helium

One of the finest -- and most unpredictable -- bands of the '90s, Helium was defined by leader Mary Timony's experimental guitar playing and alternately tough and vulnerable vocals. The handful of albums and EPs the band released during its five years of existence combined feminist lyrics with music that spanned searing rock to delicate, prog-influenced sounds that inspired future generations of indie rockers. Timony, a classically trained guitarist who had played with Washington, D.C. experimentalists Autoclave, moved to Boston in the early '90s to study English Literature ...