"That's How You Lost My Trust"

The Higher
"On Fire" Review (3/5)

It’s been a long and treacherous road for this born-again band. After contemplating hiatus and recent label changes, The Higher have decided to change the direction of the band to better suit their personalities. So they made an electronic pop-rock album. For those who aren’t familiar with the fearsome five-some, they’re debut album; “Histrionics” struck listeners back in 2005 creating a small webzine buzz which eventually faded out. People such as me, never lost interest in the band, but the general fan base did shrink after time. Now they’ve returned, but this album will not push them any further. “On Fire” is definitely nothing new, though the album is catchy. But catchy isn’t enough.

The electronics to rock ratio is pretty much even. They’ve certainly made it a point to incorporate keyboards in every track. At some points on the album, the songs become more electronic than rock putting this CD smack in the middle of the pop genre. The guitars and drum set are on the album though, but you just need to listen close enough to distinguish the instruments. The loopy guitar and keyboard sounds removed any edge the band had and the remake of the tracks, “Rock My Body,” “Histrionics,” and Patrick Stumps remix of “Pace Yourself” off their “Histrionics” CD transformed all these songs into little techno dance tracks.

Seth Trotter, lead singer of The Higher made it a point to incorporate pop into the vocals as well. The way he uses his voice sounds something similar to The Rocket Summer, creating a nice melody, but after a while it begins to get annoying. The lyrics have stayed neutral through “On Fire” except for the track; “Can Anyone Really Love Young” which can lead anyone to believe that Lou Pearlman could have masterminded this album. “On Fire” might be too pop for their original fans, but could attract a bigger, younger audience.

Regardless of the direction The Higher chose in creating “On Fire,” at times it all comes down to politics. Being on Epitaph with a pop record isn’t going to help them grow anymore than releasing “Histrionics” on Fiddler. Epitaph may be a bigger indie label with an exceptional history in the recent years, but Hellogoodbye already took the electronic pop-rock spot in the mainstream. This album will land them right next to June, struggling to make it off an LP which didn’t have enough starting-gate push or stain power.