Highlife Best Bless

When did afrobeat become the de rigueur reference point for indie acts? Sometime over the past decade it's gone from little-explored curiosity to complete ubiquity. Highlife, a project lead by 'Sleepy' Doug Shaw (sometime member of Brooklyn based 'psychedelic folk' band White Magic) is no exception, proudly showcasing the intricate upbeat guitar lines of the genre, and, in possibly the most Ronseal 'It does what it says on the tin' move imaginable, they're even named after a particular afrobeat movement that originated in Ghana in the early 1900s.

So, nil points for imagination then, but does that matter when the music is capable of being so joyous? Shaw completely understands the appeal of the genre, essentially offering on this EP an 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' take on the key aspects of highlife - the guitars chime and weave their way around each other, the rhythm section is full of bounce (and, in the case of the bass, melody) and the backing vocals, provided by his White Magic colleague Mira Billotte sound spirited, and quite lovely. That's not to say that it's a completely slavish copy of the original, Shaw's voice brings a very Western sound to the mix, sounding like Billy Corgan one minute, and Alex Turner the next, and his lyrical subjects are mostly just as familiar - the 'you, or someone like you' sentiment of Burying Stones is possibly the most apt evocation of the nonchalance of New York hipsters this side of The Strokes. Although, this does raise the question of if he's just copying the acts who were already taking on afrobeat influences before him (in particular, are the aforementioned backing vocals there for authenticity, or are they a bit of a Dirty Projectors knock-off?)

Unfortunately, the lack of inspiration is also, to an extent, noticeable in Shaw's compositions. The three tracks that form the bulk of the record each run at about five minutes, yet feel played out in half that time, somewhat diminishing their original impact. In fact, even the forty second long opener could be said to be unnecessarily bloated, as an EP really has no need of an overture. The exception, both in terms of length, and influence, is the closer Wet Palm Trees, which is a lot more ragged (a car alarm can at one point be heard in the background) and simple than what precedes it. Based around a strummed acoustic guitar and some rather Bon Iver-like multi-tracked vocals, it's quite pleasant, but seems to exist more to prove that Shaw's capable of other things, rather than to demand repeat listenings.

Generally the most you can expect of a band's debut release is for it to be 'promising', and Best Bless delivers on that in spades. But, if Shaw had brought a few more ideas, and applied some judicious editing, it could have been much more than that.