Rob and Mary, AKA High Places are from Brooklyn NYC. They draw inspiration not from the city, but 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.
High Places are all about exultation, positivity and light-headed charm. Sounding like the dreamy and sincere vocalisations of K Records groups like Beat Happening and The Blow plunged into the tropical electronics of a more tender Black Dice. Swirling the twitchy psychedelic beat patterns of Ricardo Villalobos into the inventive, verdant exotica of Martin Denny, 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.