- Summary: The Los Angeles-based indie duo releases its second studio album.
- Record Label: Thrill Jockey
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Electronic
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 14
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Mixed: 2 out of 14
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Negative: 0 out of 14
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Throughout High Places vs. Mankind the two further unravel as well as expand their influences and open-up their compact electronic world to include more live instrumentation and more upfront organic vocals.
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It seems impossible that the same band that started out so ramshackle could deliver an album as splendid and tighly wound as this.
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High Places vs. Mankind is their most complete work to date, which ends much as it began, with the band’s love of outright pop.
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When they deviate into a treacly world of dub and shifting tones (‘The Channon’), there’s still a lineage, along with an identifiable personality.
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The signifiers of the band's sound are still evident--jittery rhythms, ambient instrumental passages, gauzy washes of guitar courtesy of Rob Barber. But they're more subtle, restrained, and tasteful here.
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Instead of the earlier sample-heavy style, Barber incorporates more live instrumentation, and as a result High Places feel more like a band.
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If you heard Mankind without hearing their other work, you might think it was a decent record with a couple of memorable songs--kind of generic and bland, but not awful. It’s only a disaster if you were charmed by High Places' original sound and left cold by their new approach.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 0 out of
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Mixed: 0 out of
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Negative: 0 out of