In Between

Highwater Rising | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Box 29 Records
• ASIN: B000658AHE
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,671 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Coming Undone

2. Wasted Days

3. Life in Three Parts

4. In My Head

5. Dropout

6. I Can't Wait

7. Lie Awake

8. Kissing Tree

9. The Waiting

10. Oceans

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still undiscovered?, May 20, 2009

By 

Sarah H. Rush - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Between (Audio CD)

How is it possible that no one else has heard of Highwater Rising? I first heard "The In Between" a couple of years ago when Launchcast (a Yahoo premium member perk) recommended it for me based on my established music preferences. After hearing a couple of songs, I decided to give the entire album a try, and I ordered it from Amazon. I am not one to gush, but this is easily one of the best albums I have ever heard. It is one of the few discs that I can play over and over and not get instantly bored, or feel that I am enduring the mundane repetition of a band that categorically locks itself into one predictable stream of consciousness and sound without the scope of creativity to stretch beyond their comfort zone of genre.

I can not understand how no one out there knows who these guys are. My boyfriend and I had exhausted my entire DVD movie collection over six months, and out of sheer boredom (and some degree of curiosity to which he still won't yet admit), he pulled out my Sex and the City series. Watching an episode in season 5 (I think!) where Carrie is dating a fellow writer, I heard a modified version of "I Can't Wait" playing in the background of a scene. Obviously HBO had discovered Highwater Rising. A subsequent episode in the same season featured a similarly modified caption of another song ("Lie Awake") off the same album. It's a shame that TV shows don't immediately credit the music they borrow at the end of each episode so people can look it up if they find it interesting. I wonder whether that might help HWR and other artists gain some recognition.

Here is what I can tell you about the music of HWR. Let me first preface this by classifying myself as a metalhead by primary nature, with roots in classic rock and folky acoustic ballads (minus fluffy pop BS or country twang!). That being said, HWR captivated me within my first few minutes of exposure. They favor acoustic guitar. And it's not that pop-ish generic tepid vapid watered down unsubstantial stuff. It's deep and pleading and relevant. It is HOPEFUL. Even a staunch pessimist like me can appreciate - and not simply just stomach - the psychological lift you feel after hearing Highwater Rising. Moreover, the orchestration used to enhance the fullness of many of their songs is simply wonderful. If you have ever heard songs where an artist clumsily inserts a cello overture to try to round out a hollowness that would exist otherwise in a song, you can appreciate what I mean when I say that Highwater Rising's use of strings is smooth, qualified, placid, and it just plain makes sense.

Highwater's skills in communication are something of note. I personally hate self-important artist/musician types who are so absorbed in their own self-loathing perfection that they become a force of destruction and a nuisance to society. HWR manages to make clear and concise points in each song, using an underrated and rarely acknowledged tool in today's musical community I like to call "words". No riddles, no forced faltering rhymes, no unnecessary and overtly sensual grunts, nothing left to the subject imagination - just clear and universally understandable lyrics that don't leave you wondering whether they are singing about God, science, and the mysteries of the universe, or a bad night of drinking.

The lead singer has full vocal awareness, which is something very few people can claim. He knows his voice's capabilities and limitations, and he works well within his own talents. His pitch is essentially flawless, and he knows how to blend into tight harmonies without losing continuity or coming across as contrived. He does not compromise his sound to attain an odd pitch jump or to convey a specific mood in any bar of any song. His vocal tone is gentle and easy, his inflection is attentive, his enunciation is almost always clean, and his dynamics are appropriate.

Highwater Rising is mellow without being boring; uplifting without being obnoxiously inspirational; and relevant without coming across as trying too hard.

HWR does not give you the feeling of having been saturated in modern musical filth and filler, but it instead leaves you feeling clean, refreshed, and hopeful - not unlike a hot shower first thing in the morning. There is a genuine quality to HWR that I think has been lost in today's processed, synthesized, overly produced Gen X and mod "music". When a contemporary artist is able to achieve a genuine and expansive sound of unadulterated musical purity and still preserve the essence of its natural talents without relying on artificial production methods to fill in gaps of quality, they have surpassed the vast majority of their colleagues by merit alone.