Meticulously constructed and appropriately titled, Avery did indeed receive a helping hand from some friends for his first formal solo effort. Shirley Manson of Garbage, Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers each lent a special contribution to the record, ranging from vocals to trumpet. Throughout the album's 12 tracks, Avery travels through Bowie-esque space voyages ("Walk Through Walls [The Man Who Can Fly Pt. 2]") to pastoral spoken-word landscapes ("Revolution"), dealing with his meditations from the political to the profound.

From the ominous opening notes of "Belly of an Insect" Avery sets a tone that his bleak baritone and foreboding dreamscapes carry throughout most of the album. Beginning with pulsing electronics and an eerie, distorted guitar riff, the song builds over feedback-filled guitars while Avery chants "carry my blood away in the belly of an insect," ending with pummeling drums and a melodic bassline that breaks through the wall of sound. "Maybe," featuring the lilting voice of Shirley Manson, is a dark and lovely duet in the beauty and the beast tradition, akin to Serge Gainsbourg's 1969 phenomenon with Brigitte Bardot, "Je taime ... moi non plus."

Known to countless rock fans as the bassist for Jane's Addiction, which he co-founded at 20 with Perry Farrell in his hometown of Los Angeles, HELP WANTED marks Avery's first foray back into the spotlight since his adventurous solo project Polar Bear halted recording in 2000. This was preceded by his 1994 one-off collaboration with Dave Navarro as Deconstruction. Following the demise of Polar Bear, Avery stepped out of the limelight and contributed to projects by Peter Murphy, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and Smashing Pumpkins, among others.