Park the Van Records
2007
Get The Guests
About This Album
Third time's the charm for the High Strung: on Get the Guests, they come into their own, adding more ambitious, detailed soundcraft and production to their already winning lyrics and melodies. "What a Meddler!" opens the album with bold brass fanfares that seem to announce how much the band has grown since These Are Good Times and Moxie Bravo; "Maybe You're Coming Down with It" offers more proof with its stinging lyrics and bittersweet harmonies. Though songs like "The Gravedigger" -- one of the High Strung's best Who-channeling moments -- shout out to the rough-and-tumble sound of their earlier work, most of Get the Guests concentrates on brainy power pop. This is a band that tours libraries, after all, and it's hard not to smile when a song named "Arrow" has lyrics like "try not to quiver" (especially when a melody that seems instantly familiar backs up that clever wordplay). "Raise the Bar" and "Rimbaud/Rambo" follow suit, with playful lyrics and equally playful guitar riffs chasing each others' tails. Get the Guests' slower songs are also some of the band's finest; "There Was No One Before You, There Was No One Before Me" has a hushed excitement despite its mellow tempo that captures falling in love.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12)

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