The High Dials – Fields In Glass EP
(Rainbow Quartz)

Normally I am not a big supporter of single EPs. They usually only feature one song that you’ve already heard, and while they may throw in an additional unreleased song to hook you, they rarely deliver good value for your money. Buying a CD for one song shouldn’t even be necessary in this day and age, after all, that’s what they invented MP3s for, right? (Wait… did I say that? Nope, I didn’t.)

However, when it’s an EP from a band like The High Dials, who released one of my favourite albums from last year, I am admittedly much more open to the idea. “Fields In Glass” is the second single from The High Dials’ masterpiece A New Devotion, and it is one of many stand out tracks from the album. Lead by a pulsing bassline, complimented by lovely Beatles-esque vocal harmonies, it eventually takes flight into a sky of cascading guitars. The primary purpose of their new Fields In Glass EP is to showcase this song, and under the circumstances, I really don’t mind hearing 3 different versions of it. The “Radio Mix” seems to be essentially the same version as the one from A New Devotion. The “Club Mix” maintains the structure and most of the instrumentation of the original, but extends it a bit and adds a steady beat to increase danceability. The “Stained Glass Mix”, on the other hand, makes more radical changes and takes the song further into varying degrees of interesting psychadelic and electronic breakdowns.

There are also 2 previously unreleased songs included on this EP. “City Rivers” and “The House Where Trouble Sleeps” are both outtakes from A New Devotion as I understand it. Both are every bit as dazzling as their other songs, and neither stray from their brit-mod-pop-psych roots, but “The House Where Trouble Sleeps” definitely has a more intimate, stripped-down feel that may have seemed out of place on the album. The recordings of these two songs don’t seem as pristine and carefully produced as the songs from the LP, but it’s possible the lo-fi sound may have been intentional.

Rounding out the 6 song EP is another of my favourite songs from A New Devotion, the instrumental “Things Are Getting Better”, featuring meandering sitar and a chorus accented by handclapping and horns. You can’t ask for much more in a pop rock and roll song.

If you’ve never heard The High Dials, this CD has two of the best songs from their full length album, plus a couple great outtakes that you can’t get anywhere else. Ideally, it works as both a solid introduction to the band, and also as a necessary addition for hardcore fans. — Sean