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High Places

by High Places

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    LP presented in old-style tip-on gatefold jacket.

    Includes unlimited streaming of High Places via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $21 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD presented in old-style tip-on gatefold jackets.

    Includes unlimited streaming of High Places via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
The Storm 02:48
2.
You In Forty Years 01:28
3.
The Tree With the Lights In It 02:41
4.
Vision's the First... 03:37
5.
Gold Coin 03:46
6.
Papaya Year 01:38
7.
Namer 04:00
8.
Golden 02:51
9.
A Field Guide 03:58
buy track
10.
From Stardust to Sentience 03:32

about

High Places is Mary Pearson and Rob Barber. Mary and Rob met while Mary was completing a music degree in bassoon performance and Rob was working in visual art, teaching lithography and etching at an art school. Both were performing as solo musicians at the time. Mary relocated to New York from Michigan in late spring 2006, and the two soon after began collaborating under the name High Places. The name refers to a place where one has a better vantage point and can gain broader perspective; it references a love for mountains, rooftops, and of course metaphorical “high places.” The duo has an “exquisite corpse” style of songwriting where they exchange ideas back and forth, challenging one another’s expectations, pushing songs to new places, or more aptly, new heights. They began by releasing a number of singles as well as contributing songs to a few compilations. These early and varied works were collected and released in July of 2008 as 03/07-09/07 in advance of tours with Deerhunter and No Age.

Since its inception, High Places has created a signature sound out of using bass-heavy, yet crisp beats, lilting vocal melodies, syncopated rhythmic lines performed on folk percussion instruments, guitar duets turned into treated samples, and percussive lines created from the manipulation of household objects. The songwriting is expansive and fluid, all the while managing to be concise. Overall, the compositions are settled and assured. High Places gravitates toward the organic over the electronic, and that natural aesthetic adds warmth and intimacy to the recordings.

In a live setting, the band creates their layered recordings with Mary singing and simultaneously manipulating her vocals with various delay and reverb pedals, while playing some hand percussion, recorders, and creating and controlling various loops. Rob handles the drums triggering a variety of percussive sounds with his drum pads, as well as playing hand percussion, wooden blocks with contact mics, and singing some ambient vocals. High Places’ self-titled debut was recorded by Rob and Mary in their apartment in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood between January and May of 2008. They employed a wide variety of instruments to make this album ranging from the more traditional: 12 string guitar, banjo, shakers and rattles, bass, bells and Kalimba, to the inventive: plastic bags, mixing bowls, wood blocks and other common household objects. The album has a contemplative and organic lyrical tone emphasized by the themes of goodness manifested in nature, hardship and wonder as necessities to human existence and growth. Additionally, the idea of maturation and development is further accented through the recurring mention of trees and their extending, enveloping branches. Rob created the High Places artwork by using photos taken by both band members. The images are drawn from nature but all have a subtle, mystical, “golden” motif, a fitting frame for the album’s recurring themes. This can best be summed up by the words to “Gold Coin,” a song that was inspired by Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet:

The ocean is your god-self
The sun is your god-self
God as air
Part of you is man
Part of you is god-self
The rest is just stumbling in the mist

credits

released September 23, 2008

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about

High Places image

High Places Los Angeles, California

High Places is Rob Barber and Mary Pearson. The band has traveled extensively and performed in a multitude of environments. High Places' enveloping sound and propulsive energy allow the music to translate to a variety of venues. Mary and Rob challenge the conventional parameters of a rock band and instead give us a multi-sensory aesthetic partnership that defies expectations. ... more

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