Higgins

Six years is a long, long time to be making a record. It’s a lot of time to perfect things, it’s a lot of time to compile things, and it’s also a lot of time to nitpick and trivialize the very thing that you’re doing. All of these situations faced Higgins, as their record Dear Higgins is the product of six years of home recordings.

Taking a heavy Beatles influence and running with it, the duo of Kevin Fish and Brian Kantor bring their soulful creations to life with a great mixture of melody and atmosphere, as well as a solid level of experimentation, not unlike the tail end of the fab four’s career.

Since many of the songs implement two guitars as well as drums, one would assume that a lot of this was recorded at different times, making it that much more difficult to synch up the instruments in a cohesive and fluid manner. That’s exactly what they’ve done, though. Comfortable at any tempo, this talented tandem brings both smooth grooves and buzzing dissonance to the table with equal style and talent. The dreamy opener, “Difference,” relies heavily on some beautiful guitar harmonics and the dual vocals of Fish and Cantor to gorgeously glide over it all. Whimsical and detached, it’s a far cry from some of the more intense work on the record. “Come” blasts right out of the `60s, with very psychedelic guitar riffs, and vocals that really harken back to the decade they’re trying to emulate.

“Bees” slows the tempo to almost a standstill, with pace kept by the oh-so subtle guitar melodies, airy background vocals, and the pitter-patter of the drums keeping time. “Town to Town” is `60s pop played to absolute perfection. Everything that made that music so universally appealing in the first place is well articulated in this song, though there’s a bit more guitar experimentation in the latter half than you’d find in a typical Beach Boys tune. The epic “One More Time” is just that, one last chance for Higgins to show their stuff, and through the course of 11 minutes they do just that. Everything implemented on the record is in this song, which flows in fine fashion throughout.

Kevin Fish and Brian Kantor should be thrilled to know that six years of off and on tinkering, recording, and making music they loved has paid off in a record as easily at home on a bright summer day or when the storm clouds are coming through.