From myspace to an Escape record deal...that's Highest Dream's biggest success story so far. The music itself... well that's another story. They want desperately to be some
Journey clone, but also shows off some Starship curves under the flourescent 1980s styled skirts. The music is big, grandiose
AOR that has that "real" nostalgic sound. There's no updating of the tried-true formula here, it's hot off the ancient vinyls and infested with all the dust bunnies you would expect.
Besides their music direction, the other notable aspect is the vocals of Riq Ferris. Riq has a distinct accent that mangles certain words just terribly, distorting them into unusual verbal presentations, even more noticeable since the stumbled words are being sung. He also hits this high pitched range that could bleed ear drums and never really deviates far from this established sound. It grates on the nerves after the tenth time it rolls around. At this point he lacks the subtleties of more seasoned singers.
Highlights include the sloppy wet
"Love Makes You Cry", string arrangements, acoustic plucking and all that.
Survivor Jimi Jamison style flows through on
"Can't Fight Hearts", atleast when its not hitting those early
Journey highs. It is vintage echoing sweet and quite entertaining, being a quaint snapshot of a decade gone by. The same can be said for the sugary sweetness in
"Helpin' Hand". "Far Away From Here" climbs to anthemic horizons and pushes the big 80s feel to fine effect. Layering on the synth like primary coloured sweaters, this just shouts bold
AOR statements.
"Not An Angel" is their 'single' and a hot melodic free-flower piece.
Highest Dream's
"Far Away From Here" is a decent
AOR effort that has alot of heart and good attention to detail. However, a multitude of drawbacks pull down the enjoyment factor. Riq's vocals are a love/hate situation, that turns into nervous indifference after a few tracks. The drums are so downmixed and lifeless they might as well be programmed (The Trophy used programmed drums and they sounded far better than these). The songs strive to be big, smooth numbers and are then saddled with a paper thin production. The slightest poke and these songs would just fall apart. It's a damning struggle for the epic numbers to try and create that bombastic feel and be stuck being so thin no matter what efforts the musicians put forth to combat it. But the melodies and harmonies are solid, choruses are nice, and that final track could be from a classic 80s soundtrack.
Written by
Alanna Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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