I like The Higher.
It would appear a lot of the world’s media, however, do not. Some choice quotes from ‘On Fire’ I scooped from google:
“This Las Vegas quintet’s sophomore album marks a new low for Epitaph.”
“Bands like this are why I don’t watch MTV.”
“The Higher come off as cold and over-polished, sucking the soul out of the sounds that they obviously hope will give their own sound a warmer spirit than the typical angst-ridden rock fair. ”
And there are more. And hardly any of them are pretty reading. To be fair, I think some of those comments are undeserved, but then there are two ways in which you can take The Higher:
1) They are a pop band with guitars who sing songs with very catchy melodies and fuse R&B-esque production values to capture sickly sweet songs that will have you singing along all day
2) They are akin to the manufactured pop tarts we all hate on MTV, except they’re not manufactured and they can actually sing and play live
So I see why The Higher split people down the middle; they’re like the proverbial Marmite. You either love them or you hate them, and I guess it’s better to be a band that makes you have an opinion rather than be one which just drifts aimlessly along the punk rock highways.
So, I’ll start off with what I don’t like about ‘On Fire’, carrying on the negativity I have started. For an album, there’s a complete lack of new material. Featuring re-recorded versions of songs which featured on their last album – as well as songs which appeared on the ‘Pace Yourself’ EP earlier this year – I get the feeling old-skool fans got the shit end of the stick on this one. There’s only four or five genuinely new songs and that’s just not acceptable for me. And yes, you can argue that the old songs are good and no-one heard them first time round, but I don’t believe old-skoolers get the best deal. And anyway, those old versions are dear to our hearts and I kinda like them. The newer production is slicker and suits the direction the band have gone in, even if the Patrick Stump remix is terrible, although again I can see why people probably believe pop-punk and R&B values shouldn’t mix.
That said, The Higher‘s not-wholly-unique slant on pop-punk comes across well. The songs – particularly the older ones – have huge hooks and choruses that belong on MTV and ‘Insurance?’ in particular is a future dancefloor classic in the making. While the highs of that opening track are rarely returned to, I haven’t found this a CD i’ll start to listen to and then switch off. And while I can’t say it lived up to all my expectations, three months after first hearing it it’s still getting plenty of spins. Pop-punk lovers will probably enjoy this album in the short term; it’s catchy and full of singalong moments, but I’m not convinced this is as good as it could – or perhaps should – have been.
So hot right now? The Higher may think they’re on fire, but the chances are they may only be lukewarm – for a while at least.