High Places –High Places Vs Mankind

It’s a great record for putting on if you’re feeling dreamy

It’s a great record for putting on if you’re feeling dreamy

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A very widescreen, romantic record; and one blessed with an appealing sense of restraint inherent in some of the dancier tracks. And High Places Vs Mankind doesn’t half remind me of GusGus, especially the opening tracks, The Longest Shadows and On Giving Up; what with the moody electronica minimal drumbeat and sparse, echoey guitar lines. There’s also a bit of New Order in here, (check out last track When it Comes).

Still, references aside it’s a very enjoyable listen on the whole, between the first and last tracks the LP meanders lazily around, sometimes veering towards a woozy ambience – as in She’s A Wild Horse and The Channon, sometimes laying down a poignant lament (as in the beautiful Canada).  Incidentally, She’s A Wild Horse has a marvellous tail-out featuring a spiky guitar line, sub Cocteau Twins vox and, well, something best described as a “wobbly sound”… It’s a great record for putting on if you’re feeling dreamy, take Drift Slayer, a marvellous piece of woozy psychedelia that nods to ‘nineties Spiritualised. 

Very enjoyable indeed.