Earlier this year, High Places, aside from touring to great effect with Liars and Deerhunter and picking up a good slice of Pitchfork hype, released (and I did a pretty rubbish review of, because I liked it but couldn’t think of anything significant to write) 03/07-09/07, essentially an expanded EP collection and precursor to this, their debut album proper, only admittedly one that is only 2 minutes longer than its ‘not quite proper’ cousin, just scraping the 30 minutes mark with 10 (same number as 03/07”¦) tracks worth of simple, cooing dub-pop songs.Well, I say dub. High Places have lots of dub-sounding effects going on but none of that echoing bassiness whatsoever, just a drifty, drowned-nations bits-of-rainwater-dripping-off-massive-leaves-and-exotic-insects-frolicking incandescentness. When you break it down to its basic elements its almost shockingly simple- Mary Pearson singing sweetly over Rob Barber’s vague mix of processed slit drums-and-probably-over-stuff-too percussion, and then also theres some loops or something there too.And what's more it works. It really, really works. When it all comes together its something properly beautiful and absorbing, like going to an acquarium and then, even though its aimed at children, you know you see all these beautiful fish and it really *hits*, and when you were a kid you’d just go and run around and you wouldn’t really be all that interested in the fish, at least not the non-dangerous ones, but then you’re just there and here they are, these fish, and (like I said) it really hits. And you just get this amazing sense of the beauty and intangibility of nature, and how you can’t really explain or touch it, but just how much wonder and brilliance there is in creation. And that’s what High Places sound like. Closer ‘From Stardust To Sentience’ is just one affecting loop-as-key-to-perfection. And see *that’s* fantastic simplicity in action. The cover art is also spectacular. Looks a bit like the Fuck Buttons artwork. Only better.Basically this is a really consistently ace and occasionally amazing album- perfectly short and addictively repeat-listenable, a soothing herbal ear-bath of comfort and fun. On the other hand, its almost exactly the same album as 03/07-09/07, just marginally tightened up. But still, don’t want to leave the review on a negative- I really like this album lots. How great is ‘Visions The First”¦’ too? 87%High Places on