Whimsy's tough. Too much, and you risk damning yourself to frivolity, cutesiness; too little, and you flirt with a potentially stultifying self-seriousness. Brooklyn-to-L.A. junkyard-pop duo High Places managed to keep their whimsy in check on their early EPs and stellar, spectral self-titled LP, matching Mary Pearson's swooping sing-songs to an alluring back-bedroom clang, playfully delivered but painstakingly crafted. Time and again in those early days, High Places perched themselves at the midpoint between experimental, electronic mangling and wide-eyed melodics, then proceeded to double-dutch all over it.
Things took a turn toward the serious on last year's High Places vs. Mankind. Adding further wrinkles to their rippling productions while tamping down some of Pearson's vocal buoyancy, it's an intriguing-sounding record full of alluring textures and warped schoolyard chants. Next to what came before it, though, Mankind's melodies could seem soft-pedaled, its hooks wedged into tracks rather than constructed alongside them. And Pearson's oft-unaffected vocals took on a disaffection that felt a bit like detachment, that wonder in her voice oddly absent. This shift-- toward a fuller sound, but away from a lighter spirit-- continues on their third LP, Original Colors.
Drawing on a spectrum-spanning array of dance music, Original Colors takes its cues from drum'n'bass, minimal techno, and trance's dalliances with pop. Easily their most danceable, production-centered record to date, Original Colors moves with a quicker pulse than anything that came before it. Pearson and Barber still favor their homespun beatmaking setup, and while there's no mistaking most of High Places' production work with that of the pros, they at times manage a pretty good duct-tape-and-popsicle-stick approximation of Roni Size & Reprazent's earthy clamor and the epic, arid trance-pop of Everything But the Girl beatmaker Ben Watt. Though dance purists will likely find Original Colors' careening too sinewy and scattered, every beat is set just so, and Barber and Pearson's anything-goes confidence lends these tracks an appealing elasticity.
Though this shapeshifting sound world proves immersive enough, as a pop record on the order of their warbly, wide-eyed debut, Original Colors maintains a certain distance. Further flatlining her post-Mankind vocal delivery, Pearson deadpans her way through a good chunk of her lines in a distracted, almost drowsy manner. There are stretches where it seems as though she's left the room entirely; she's certainly singing less than ever before, and her vocals are often backgrounded or otherwise processed in a way that diminishes their potential impact. The crumbly, constantly undulating percussion seems to have edged Pearson out of the frame, and apart from a few more-than-milquetoast melodies they manage to set out front, she seems pretty content to let the beats take the lead, a task they're not always up for. The few graspable melodies she gets out front fare quite a bit better; "Dry Lake" is comfortingly loopy, if a tad lethargic, while the dubby, EBTG-nodding highlight "Sonora" finds Pearson doing a passable Tracey Thorn over its tumbling-downstairs backdrop. These two tracks see Pearson finally exiting her shell, shedding some of the timidity that seems to trail her here, and the beats-- easily Original Colors' most vibrant-- perk up to match. A few songs later, and there's that trepidation again.
Original Colors opens up a bit with repeat spins, but its meek melodies never quite bubble to the surface the way you'd hope. Instead, as the beats deepen, their alien textures grow ever-weirder from prolonged exposure; they, too, lack some of the warmth of High Places' earlier work. But Original Colors' production still doesn't quite sit right next to its paucity of melody, and its sidestepping of the song in favor of the sound never feels like a fair trade. The beguiling interplay between the two halves of High Places-- the ethereal, almost cherubic vocals and the clattering racket in, around, and behind them-- is lacking here, along with much of their clubhousey sense of adventure. For a group who traded so well in whimsy, who got off to such a kaleidoscopic start, Original Colors can feel unusually drab.
