High Places

Event information

One Inch Badge presents:

HIGH PLACES (Thrill Jockey / Upset the Rhythm)
HIGH PLACES are two in number. Mary Pearson and Rob Barber, both Brooklyn dwellers, create a unique and joyous union of world beat, dance music and underground pop with High Places. Standing atop the summit of a towering mountain certainly provides a great perspective but it's the overpowering feeling of awesome majesty that is key to understanding the band. That sense of grandeur and wonder is almost impossible to tether in words yet their music seems dizzy under its influence.

High Places are all about exultation, positivity and light-headed charm. Sounding like the dreamy and sincere vocalisations of K Records groups plunged into the tropical electronics of the fertile US underground. Swirling twitchy psychedelic beat patterns into inventive and verdant exotica, High Places do not sound like your usual New York band, but scratch the surface and their heavy syncopation and free-wheeling approach to melody sounds like a city alive in daydream.

Rob and Mary draw inspiration from returning to the basics of sound, like its pitch, position, speed and presence. This template for experimentation allows the band to build otherworldly polyrhythmic miniatures from small drums, bells and shakers, clouded by blankets of echo and reverb. Their most thunderous heart-thumping impulses are juxtaposed with a spacious (almost peaceful) atmosphere. Rob's percussion sounds chime and flutter around Mary's sweetly honest vocal, layered to the point that her lyrics often become as veiled and hypnotic as the other instruments.

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