High Places is an American duo formed in in May 2006 by multi-instrumentali… Read Full Bio ↴High Places is an American duo formed in in May 2006 by multi-instrumentalist Robert L. Barber (sometimes known as Robbie Barber) and vocalist Mary Pearson.
It began as an experiment in collaboration: two people with diverse artistic backgrounds coming together to merge their skills, aesthetic tastes, and music-making approaches. Robert L. Barber grew up listening to punk and hardcore, and Mary Pearson studied bassoon performance, but both gravitated toward a DIY compositional style and a love of layers. It is the affinity for layering that has thus far defined the duo, both in ideas and instrumentation. High Places’ songs contain a fascinating range of aural layers: bells and bird calls over a wash of ocean waves; mallets hitting mixing bowls over treated guitar and glockenspiel; Mary's reflective vocals over Rob's homemade beats. The result is an imaginative and spacious amalgamation of sounds with a unique, almost Caribbean undertone that is as immediate as it is refreshing.
Since their inception in 2006 in Brooklyn, High Places have honed their "exquisite corpse" style of songwriting, exchanging ideas back and forth, challenging one another's expectations, pushing both performance and songs to new places, or more aptly, new heights. With each single, from “Head Spins” to “Sandy Feat” from “Greeting the Light” to “Granola” the band has revealed more complex elements within their layers be it in vocal texture, delicate melodic sense, or in new dimensions to their ever inventive and propulsive percussion.
Their album "Original Colors" was released in 2011.
It began as an experiment in collaboration: two people with diverse artistic backgrounds coming together to merge their skills, aesthetic tastes, and music-making approaches. Robert L. Barber grew up listening to punk and hardcore, and Mary Pearson studied bassoon performance, but both gravitated toward a DIY compositional style and a love of layers. It is the affinity for layering that has thus far defined the duo, both in ideas and instrumentation. High Places’ songs contain a fascinating range of aural layers: bells and bird calls over a wash of ocean waves; mallets hitting mixing bowls over treated guitar and glockenspiel; Mary's reflective vocals over Rob's homemade beats. The result is an imaginative and spacious amalgamation of sounds with a unique, almost Caribbean undertone that is as immediate as it is refreshing.
Since their inception in 2006 in Brooklyn, High Places have honed their "exquisite corpse" style of songwriting, exchanging ideas back and forth, challenging one another's expectations, pushing both performance and songs to new places, or more aptly, new heights. With each single, from “Head Spins” to “Sandy Feat” from “Greeting the Light” to “Granola” the band has revealed more complex elements within their layers be it in vocal texture, delicate melodic sense, or in new dimensions to their ever inventive and propulsive percussion.
Their album "Original Colors" was released in 2011.
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03/07 - 09/07
High Places Lyrics
Banana Slugs/Cosmonaut I looked up, saw a cloud Floating by without a sound Ban…
Canary Our space is limited It's getting crowded The river has dr…
Greeting the Light It's a challenge of the Spirit and Might To go inside…
Shared Islands "Day One of film shoot L.A. sky - white with slight…
Universe It's been going on more than a week now I can't…