Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Serenity and peace is a feeling denied so many, even those touched by the sense of composed calm are usually blessed with just the barest mention in their lives, the look to the Heavens, to see Up On High and reflect in a measure of stillness, that is the pleasure it seems reserved only for Gods, The Silent and The Muse.
It is the access to the elemental that we seek to enjoy even a moment, the five-minute sit down with no sound disturbing our ravaged mind, the desire to be looking down on the Earth from the vantage point of a balloon, drifting, rootless, migratory, all has its origin in the urge to be free, of responsibility, of all that keeps you surround by noise. For Vetiver, serenity is a gift, a magical encounter with peace and beauty that they have sought to offer as hope to all that come their way.
In Vetiver’s Up On High, the tenderness of Andy Cabic’s voice highlights the dreamscape of the music and the evolution of humanity’s constant pursuit to be at peace with themselves, even if they cannot be at one with the world or their surroundings.
It is in the natural air that we feel the command of peace, and Vetiver open the window of the still and the wild with the same determined spirit, and across songs such as To Who Knows Where, All We Could Want, A Door Shuts Quickly, Wanted, Never Asked and the surrounding beat of Lost In Your Eyes, what the listener gains is the art and essence of seduction and reasoning, that is we cannot make our own serenity, then at least take in the words of those who have, for however long, played a part in producing the sentiment and the reasoning to make it stand still in a world of the cacophony and the discord.
It is in the economy of living without leaving a noise littering the mind that we seek judgment, and for Vetiver, such a judgment is to be found Up On High, and with the cares of the world vanquished. Stirring, individual, but true to its own design, Up On High is an experience of harmony.
Vetiver’s Up On High is released on November 1st.
Vetiver will be performing at Liverpools 81 Renshaw Street on December 7th.
Ian D. Hall