High Places will make
you want to rip off your tube tops and run round and
round a single sprinkler for three hours. A New York
originated duo with strong DIY tendencies, High
Places is Mary Pearson and Robert Barber who rely on
a tit-for-tat approach to music making. With bell
rings and bird calls overlyed on homemade
heartbeats, ocean crashes, and angelic swoonings,
many of High Places tracks conjure to mind a memory
of New Jersey shore boardwalk cotton candy and salt
water taffy (but if you haven't been to the
Jersey shore or had the pleasure of salt water
taffy, listen to their album and you'll soon feel
the sugar on your tongue.) Their first major release
was the 2008 singles track compilation 03/07 –
09/07. Their latest release is a compilation
album with Soft Circle which includes a 12
minute 'slow-burning' track from High Places.
Credit: High Places on Myspace
Some of their more
astonishing tracks include 'From Stardust to
Sentience’ which makes you feel that you’re standing
on top of a mountain with an oversized swirl
lollipop in your hand looking down on Mickey Mouse
driving a little Shriner car that keeps fading in
and out of reality. Yes, its pretty good. And then
there is the the track 'Golden' which sounds like a
mixture of Metronomy meets Mikachu while ‘Head Spinz
Hawnay Troof remix’ could be compared to a band of nu-rave
Chipmunks eating chocolate chip cookies. It’s pretty
amazing. But at the end of the day, the best way to
describe High Places would be to say that they are a
refreshing breeze of Caribbean wind mingled with a
hint of aboriginal trance inducing body
spasms. Yes!
