The brand of shoegazer music delivered by Highlands is burly and macho. For starters, the singing isn\u2019t shy and timid, contrary to what usually is the case with the bands of this genre. If compared to an act like Catherine Wheel \u2013 which similarly leaned towards a more hard rock sound within its shoegaze framework \u2013 the vocals of Highlands don\u2019t soften at all to reflect the tenderness of this style of music. Minus the plush reverb effects, the brawny vocals are bereft of any gentleness, and approach the music more like a grunge band than a dreamy shoegazer group.<\/p>\n
Stylistically, the music on Highlands\u2019 debut Singularity<\/i> matches the sturdy vocals on it, as this is an album of walls of guitars packed in dense layers, more than of any prettiness created by guitar melodiousness. There is no crazy distortion or idiosyncrasies either; just heavy guitars and vocals that echo. Highlands looks like some sort of a mainstream post-grunge band in their photo and sounds too normal for a shoegazer outfit. <\/p>\n
All of this is not to say that Singularity <\/i>is not a textbook shoegazer record, though — it actually is. Highlands reproduces the haziness of this type of music to perfection, in a way that brings back memories of the past. In fact, with the unique combination of its simpleness and layered guitars incorporating elements of modern rock, Singularity <\/i>is one of the few shoegazer records that can actually be played from start to finish on commercial radio and not seem out of place.<\/p>\n
Singularity <\/i>is an easy record for most part; an album of singles, like the tracks \u201cRailroad,\u201d \u201cEvil,\u201d and \u201cBrain Drain.\u201d But what makes it fascinating to an extent are the elements of space-rock and neo-psychedelia that are hidden in the cloak of its apparent straightforwardness. Songs like \u201cWaking Up,\u201d \u201cSunshine,\u201d and \u201cRunning Away\u201d have the affection of Brit-pop acts, and share the thumbprint of The Verve in particular.<\/p>\n
As the band likes to say, \u201cHighlands will take any willing listener to the other side of the ominous looking-glass;\u201d but not without a sense of comfort and familiarity; what else would one expect from a group that is a native of Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":30983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8864],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-42663","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-highlands","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42663"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42663"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}