The Helio Sequence On World Cafe

Hailing from Beavertown, Ore., singer-guitarist Brandon Summers and drummer-keyboardist Benjamin Weikel started playing together in 1996. Three years later, the duo self-produced its first EP and officially formed The Helio Sequence.

While the band was touring in support of its 2008 album Keep Your Eyes Ahead, The Helio Sequence's recording studio in Portland experienced massive flood damage. Forced to find a new space, the duo discovered that recording its lustrous, emotional music in a different location affected the structure and style of its latest album, Negotiations. Summers and Weikel wrote, recorded and produced the record, which was released late last year.

Here, The Helio Sequence plays a few tracks from Negotiations and discusses the natural disaster that changed its sound.