Metaphysical Mountain-tops

You might not think this if you’re not a dendrologist (tree scientist), but trees gain the majority of their mass from the air. 99% of it, in fact. While it’s common knowledge that trees grow from the roots up, they actually gain most of their atmosphere-grazing size from their air. This seems like a nice analogy for the growing sounds of experimental pop band High Places. Using trees often as their subjects, they produce ethereal and delicately moving sounds that spiral upwards and outwards like trees. The friends Mary Pearson (vocalist) and Rob Barber (multi-instrumentalist) behind the artistic venture originally met at a Death Set show in Manhattan, New York, in December 2005. “Beau Velasco (from the Death Set) introduced us,” Mary says, “and I told Rob I would set up a show for him and Matt & Kim in Michigan.”

The environment, they say, plays a substantial part in their music. Rob says on the band, “Really it is just an escape for us to create sounds that make our environment a bit more comfy. Nature is important, but strange sounds we hear on a day to day basis filter in as well.” Mary adds that it’s about involving other things to make a stand-out live show. “I like live shows that involve more than just one of the senses. My ideal show would involve listening to music, watching something beautiful, and eating something nice. Having food in your hand would also incorporate smell and touch… oh, but maybe it would be better to have a cat in your lap, and food in your hand… We often project video images while we play because we like the idea of creating an entire environment around ourselves. We think of it like an art installation or something.”

It’s been noted that the pair is not the most confident onstage. High Places was apparently born out of insecurity, as their first show came about because Rob didn’t want to perform alone. Having been around for two years now, do they feel comfortable performing? “Neither of us is terribly charismatic onstage, but I think we’ve gotten a lot more comfortable,” observes Mary. “I used to do these breathing exercises before performing, but then I would get so sleepy! I only really get nervous the first time we perform a new song.” Rob interjects, “It is still mega scary for me… But it is very worthwhile in the end. I have learned so much about myself and my fears from just getting out there and doing it.”

The observant, polite and positive pair behind High Places seem to share a sort of syncopation, synergy or symphony of thoughts, but they are not your conventional couple, nor romantically involved at all. “I think we are common law siblings at this point. Not a couple, but a couple of friends,” Mary explains. Adds Rob, “Yeah… People seem to have a hard time accepting that a boy and a girl can be tight friends.”

The new citizens of LA seem to have always been into challenging society and its expectations, with their interest in experimental music being sparked early on. “I think that I was always drawn to the weirder aspects of common pop music,” Rob explains. “Like for example, when I was a kid, The Bee Gees had the most insane voices ever, and I was totally obsessed with them. Still am actually. Or like the guitar tone in ‘Baracuda’ by Heart… Crazy! I love that,” he says.

“Experimental for experimental’s sake has always been a tough sell for me, because it often forgets there is a listener. Does that make sense?”

The band, which is currently on tour with Soft Circle in North-Eastern North America, creates all its own squiggly, cyclic and shuffling samples. “We find it easier to create it all ourselves than to look for the perfect pre-existing sample,” says Rob. “We make little scrappy immediate recordings, and then try to make dance tracks out of them. Anything goes as far as instrumentation. But we shy away form being too tech-y.”

Though messily-laden with all manner of worldly sounds and haunting, repetitive rhythms, it is not dauntingly technical music, rather the kind you can imagine an audience being able to adapt and utterly give themselves into; and a seemingly perfect opportunity for crowd participation! But the performers shy away from that. While they admire Lucky Dragons, who utilise such crowd involvement, Rob says it can freak out the audience. “Usually people get super tripped out by you trying to hand them something, so we shy away from it. It puts people on the spot. I love that Lucky Dragons has found a way to break down that wall though.” He adds on their upcoming mini New Zealand tour-mate, “Dan Deacon has AMAZING crowd participation!” It would also take a bit of creativity from the audience, as High Places don’t use your standard run-of-the-mill instruments. Predominantly using sampling machines, they’ve been known to use plastic bags and wood blocks. “It’s usually a pretty immediate thing,” Mary says on their instrument inventing. “We just grab something we find lying around the house, without much forethought.”

Despite the difficulties that level of crowd involvement might bring, High Places of course appreciate participation in some form or other. “One time in England, the voltage transformer died, and so Rob got the crowd to sing bass lines and clap rhythms,” says Mary. “Oh, and last night there was a guy in the front row singing ‘From Stardust to Sentience’ louder than me. He knew every word!”

Their sound-expansive gems rarely rise over the four-minute mark, and are often found at the perfect pop length of three minutes. Do they melt them down with post production, or write to be concise? Rob answers, “Well we just made a 12 minute song! It’ll be on a split 12″ with Soft Circle. But yeah… I think we just have short attention spans, even with the fact that we are a pretty psych-ish band. I was a punk kid, so I think I get it from that sorta direct approach to song writing. New stuff seems to be a bit more expansive though…”

The delightful childlike wonder and exploratory feeling that comes with listening to High Places’ music is shared among many. Is it a conscious effort undertaken by the musicians to retreat back to memories of their childhoods and the mindsets they had when they were young and full of wonder to make their music? Rob says no. “Childhood for me was super scary and stressful. I really had a tough time.”

“I had to re-learn and re-acquire all the awesome parts of being a kid once I became comfortable with myself… So now maybe I embrace it a lot more than I did when I was actually small.”

Beset with a more positive outlook now, Rob and Mary’s music has been described as “emphasising themes of goodness manifested in nature, hardship and wonder as necessities to human existence and growth”. Mary says some personal hardship has brought about this theme. “We’ve both had our fair share of hard times, like anyone else. Our songs ‘The Storm’ and ‘Golden’ particularly deal with the idea of finding the good in suffering. ‘Golden’ was written as a tribute to a friend of mine who passed away two years ago.

“There are always many ways to interpret any given situation, and I personally think our time on earth is too precious not to look for the good in everyday existence. I don’t necessarily mean ‘good’ in an overtly positive way, but more as a sort of potential.”

See High Places live with Dan Deacon:

Thursday February 19 at Bodega, Wellington with DJ Lotion,

Friday February 20 at Cassette #9, Auckland with Golden Axe,

Saturday February 21 at Marsupial, Christchurch.

High Places – The Tree With The Lights In It: MP3

High Places – Vision’s The First: MP3

High Places – Myspace

High Places – Blog

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Los Angeles, New York