High Highs Hit New Heights With ‘Cascades’

There is a certain pristine perfection to the music of High Highs’ new album Cascades that simply begs for repeated playings.

The Brooklyn-based group—actually a pair of Australians, Jack Milas and Oli Chang—have recorded an outstanding second album filled with lush sonic soundscapes evoking a certain type of ‘80s Brit band—say the Lotus Eaters, the Korgis or China Crisis—but all jazzed-up, modern and sophisticated.

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“Steely Dan is kind of like a childhood thing for me,” says Milas, largely because he was prodded to. “They were always there, but then recently I realized how good they were when I watched Classic Albums.”

There is nothing whatsoever archaic about the sound of High Highs, but that drive for sonic perfection, so evident on Cascades, does seem slightly out of time. And it is just the pair’s second album, following 2013’s Open Season—the title track of which, incidentally, had popped up on the previous year’s Pitch Perfect soundtrack and started the ball rolling. “A pivotal moment,” notes Milas.

“Our first record was very intimate, and it was written in a small room, a small space. About intimate things. This was sort of designed to fill bigger spaces,” says Chang.

Influences? Australian pop of the ‘80s. Fleetwood Mac. Hip Brit electronic whiz Burial. Exactly whom you’d expect from a duo that first bonded while jamming on an Aphex Twin track.

In our Santa Monica studio just a few weeks ago, High Highs’ delivered two exceptional performances, one delightful interview, and additional proof that Cascades will likely be one of 2016’s very best albums. Take a look and take a listen.