*Story by Roland Nimis*
High Places took the stage at the Majestic Theatre last night to a sparse crowd that contained a disproportionate amount of photographers and VIP badges. The attendees dug their schtick, though, which consisted of Rob Barber on a drum machine and Mary Pearson singing incomprehensible, subdued melodies.
They played with musical primitivism and sounded like a mixture of aboriginal beats and STOMP. Barber toiled away with impressive rhythms while he hopped back and forth and dripped sweat on their table. Pearson augmented her singing with sand shakers and wrist bells. The rest of the sound was phoned in, giving an ambient background.
Within these constraints, High Places covered a lot of ground, from tropical to Indian sounds. The problem was that they failed to grab the audience as they plodded along, refusing to reach out and make the songs recognizable. The issue stemmed from the singing, which seemed like an afterthought and became static midway through the set.
Near the end of the set, Pearson asked the sound engineers to adjust the levels, but no one in the crowd could notice the difference. High Places’ insular music makes for an enjoyable headphone listen, but not much of a show.
