On their fourth album,
Proclaimer of Things
,
the High Water Marks
-- a band led by
the Apples in Stereo
's
Hilarie Sidney
and spouse
Per Ole Bratset
-- delve back into some of the loose, murkier, fuzzy qualities of their debut album, 2004's
Songs About the Ocean
. It's a switch-up after stepping into brighter, punchier territory for
Ecstasy Rhymes
two years prior. What hasn't changed is the lineup (which also includes bass player
Logan Miller
and drummer
Oystein Megard
) or the songwriters' way with a catchy, affectionate pop tune, a skill that's front and center right from opening track "The Best Day." It consists of a mix of bouncy distortion and jangle alongside him-and-her vocals that come together on lines like "We'll talk a lot and stay until the sun goes down/'Cause I want you around/You don't ever let me down." They add mallet percussion and '50s- and '60s-style backing vocals to the buzzy yet quite melodic "Jenny" before slowing down the tempo on the trippier "Fingers and Trees Are Only Temporary," a song with barely decipherable vocals by
Sidney
. Elsewhere, the ultra-catchy,
Bratset
-led "Spectral Roomates" (sic) is paired with dark outlier "The Origins of Names," which approaches grungy post-punk in sound. The set list soon gets back to basics, though, reaching one of its poppiest points yet with the bittersweet, co-led "Someone's Song" in the 13-song album's home stretch. It ends with the coupling of
bop "Reason vs. Truth" (replete with an overdriven guitar solo) and the alternately twangy and fuzzy "We Are Going to Kentucky," two album highlights. The melange of guitar tones here works best when combined with flexed melodic muscle, but even diversions into noise and darker corners charm on a set that never loses its spark. ~ Marcy Donelson