The Indie Anthology 59: essential songs

A shift from shoegaze today, moving back to our dear, warm, eternal jangle-pop in our anthology. Although this time comes from a quite unusual place, Haledon, New Jersey. Impossible guitars!

Song: Higher Ground
Artist: The Feelies
Year: 1988

I got into The Feelies because of R.E.M., which I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone. Everything I readed could resemble or recall to the Athens legend it was automatically checked by me, expecting to find more glimpses of that unmatched, glorious beauty & mystery. But to be honest, 'Crazy Rhythms' didn't click with me at first. Glenn Mercer's voice paled in comparison with Stipe's (well, as 99% of voices do, as a matter of fact) and in several tunes, guitars were too repetitive, building up tempos that seemed to develop into tranced-out rock. But then I listened 'Only Life', their third album, and the floodgates opened. Leaded by the immense 'Higher Ground', this is jangle-rock unafraid of going further, with dreamy lead guitars, quietly, confidently thrilling, with Mercer and Million inviting us to listen to their guitar dialogue: chiming riffs, controlled distortion, tension, clarity, pace. Higher grounds, indeed.