The Higher
Histrionics

When The Higher’s debut CD, Histrionics, (released May 2005) landed in my mailbox I had literally no expectations of what it may sound like.  The first track on Histrionics, “Diaries” starts out calm enough with a solo guitar setting the stage until Seth Trotter’s cracking vocals break in and crank things up with the line “I’m gonna give it away to you!” Trotter’s vocals do not fit the whiney, pop-punk vocal stylings that heavily populate the indie-rock/pop-punk scene, instead he holds his notes at the highest point of his vocal range until it sounds like his voice is about to break. He intricately wraps his voice around the lyrics that wrap around each other where, quite often, the last song of one line is the first word of the next line. The musicianship that the band exhibits on this album is fantastic, very intricate guitar work that is more than a step above the typical 3 chord wonders. The uniqueness of the vocals alone set this album apart from the pack but 1 minute and 44 seconds into the album is when I really sat up and listened. At that point hand claps, yes hand claps, enter the realm of independent rock to great effect. But Histrionics doesn’t end the surprises there. The second song, the title track “Histrionics” is a 1 minute 14 second acoustic ditty that showcases Trotter’s vocal range but is also chock full of hand claps and keyboards that prepare the listener for the variety of music jam packed in this disc. The third song, tongue-in-cheekily named “Rock My Body” reveals the final trick that this talented group has up their sleeves. The last line of the song, sung a capella by Trotter and as saccharine sweet as you can get (“I am watching you from the stars... even death could never tear us apart”) stands out even more as it is distorted through a vocoder. You may think that these post-production, inorganic aspects of the recording (the vocoder and hand claps) are used to gimmicky effect and may overshadow the songs themselves but they are used sparingly and as a contrast to the most organic parts of the album. I imagine that The Higher will catch some grief over their use of such pop/dance production tools but I think it sets the album apart and I’d rather hear that than another fuckin’ cookie cutter screamo band.                                                                                                          -N.W.