The High Strung: Get the Guests

Label: Park the Van

Get The Guests, the third proper album by Detroit’s finest, The High Strung, is so fantastic – so loaded with instant-classic melodies, sharply clever lyrics, and virtuosic playing, so high-energy, so full of new-favorite-song-worthy tracks – that attempts to describe or define it can’t help but feel flat and inadequate. But here’s to trying. While The High Strung’s two previous efforts, These Are Good Times and Moxie Bravo, were similarly chock-full of anxious pop-rock gems, their latest leaves its predecessors in the dust. Get The Guests showcases the work of three highly-accomplished musicians – drummer Derek Berk has been compared endlessly to Keith Moon for his controlled-chaos percussion style; bassist Chad Stocker is simply one of the most talented and creative rock bassists you can hope to see; and vocalist/guitarist/lyricist Josh Malerman’s masterful guitarwork is bested only by his voice, which is simultaneously sweet and powerful. The songs themselves are insanely catchy, but with structure and dynamics that give them depth and staying power; Malerman’s songcraft has been lauded by none other than Robert Pollard, with whom the High Strung has toured. Like Guided by Voices, they take inevitable cues from the Kinks, Beach Boys, et al., but unlike Pollard and co., the High Strung combine their lush harmonies with searing, power-pop riffs, and a seemingly contradictory combination of glam-rock swagger and an earnest, emotional, optimism. Fans of GBV, Apples in Stereo, Teenage Fanclub, or the Zombies shouldn’t miss this one. Correction: nobody should miss this one! (Jackie)