Bryan "Helium" Poole recently resigned his bass duties in Athens psych-rock powerhouse Elf Power to pursue a recording career of his own. Poole's first official release as B.P. Helium, Kumquat Mae is a pretty pop romp through the same field of opium poppies and LSD-drenched daisies that former labelmates Apples in Stereo and the Minders once explored. Kaleidoscopic delights like "The Weeping Soul" and "Song for Marie" swirl in stately Technicolor, their jangly strum and straightforward cadences fortified with dollops of majestic brass, barroom piano and playful ba-ba-bas. Helium changes pace with the Caribbean-flecked "Cuban Sunrise (the lost side of sour)", and does the Krishna master proud with a soulfully earnest rendition of George Harrison's "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long". Like they say, no job lasts forever; as career-change options go, Poole could certainly have done a lot worse than striking out on his own.