The PhiLL(er)



03/07-09/07 Cover
High Places

03/07-09/07
Thrill Jockey Records
This is a collection of singles from, uh... you can work it out. Because it's a collection of singles, rather than a coherent album, it's kind of disingenuous to compare it to the album reviewed above, but disingenuity or disingenuousness is what this election season is all about, right? Actually, I won't compare it as an album, but the songs here in general focus a little more attention on the vocal lines and lyrics (more often the not, the vocals are mixed more to the front) which gives individual tracks a slightly different feel to those on "High Places". The soundscapes tend more to the lush, rather than "lightly layered" (all attempts at similes have been officially turned off) style I struggled to accurately describe above. "Sandy Feat" tells the story of a duck in a desert, but the duck doesn't stay there. "Jump In" is dynamite pop with a difference. Because I've been busy/lazy (delete as appropriate) I'm reviewing this record after the full-length album that followed it, and as such I feel at a slight disadvantage. There's a gap of progress beween the two, by which I mean High Places seem to have developed their ideas and approach between recording these pieces and the work they put into the self-titled album. Not that things are sonically that different, but "High Places" made me more excited than "03-07-09/07", although this collection is actually really good, too. What I'm trying to get at with all this hemming and hawing is that maybe you should just go to your local record store/internet retailer and buy them both at the same time. Then we'll all be happy and I can stop waffling, okay? Okay. Deal.