THE HIGHER STATE Darker By The Day CD

THE HIGHER STATE
Darker By The Day CD
13 O’ Clock Records 2009
www.myspace.com/thehigherstategaragepsych
A very cool psych/garage revival project out of England, The Higher State get full marks for doing their homework – to wit, “That’s Where I’ll Stay” will probably remind you of Buffalo Springfield because it rips off a waltz-tempo break straight out of “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing”. If at this point you’re probably thinking “hmm, sounds derivative as hell…” well then you’re probably right, but this is precisely the kind of thing I dig about them. Spotters are going to have fun picking out which song borrows what from which band from L.A.’s Golden Era of 1966-68 (and in doing so, paying homage to later paisley underground bands like The Dream Syndicate.) While enough details differ from track to track, though, my main criticism of the album is that about half the tracks sort of fall into a generic-sounding folk-psych rut and as a result come across as filler in comparison to more evocative tracks like “Electric Cowboy” (Electric sitar? Gimme some of that!) and the album’s high-energy opener “And In Time” In all, though, one of the more successful psych revival attempts you’re likely to hear, and one of the best from the UK since The Dukes Of Stratosphear. (Darren Gawle)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #7. BUY IT HERE