What happens when a couple of woodland nymphs stumble on a rave in the desert? Do they trade in their satchel of 'shrooms for some E emblazoned with Snoopy's face? Do they shed their beaded skirts for American Apparel spandex? Do they even know how to dance?These are important questions to ask of High Places because the first single, "On Giving Up," for their new album High Places vs. Mankind finds the band in startling new territory. Formerly, we had a pair of navel-gazers who sounded like regular contributors to Erowid. They made two albums full of sweetly earnest songs devoted to kindergarten classes and banana slugs and stardust.
But now the band (Robert Barber and Mary Pearson) has moved from Brooklyn to L.A., Barber has clearly bought some slicker toys, and Mary Pearson has dropped all the playfulness from her voice. "On Giving Up" is a straight club banger that glows with electric sex. Pearson's deadpan delivery, though, simultaneously depletes and replenishes the song of its overt sexuality. The deep thwack of an 808 and mechanized shudders are going to soundtrack a lot of makeout sessions in the next few months. The lyrics, though, are surely going to give close listeners pause: "Though I have cried/So many times/So many times/It's all because I feel everything that's gone/It's all gone/It's all gone/It's all gone."
The song makes me all the more anxious (in both senses of the word) to hear the album. I'm curious to see whether the song marks a temporary or permanent departure for the band.
High Places vs. Mankind is out April 6 on Thrill Jockey.
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