Stream: The Naked and Famous, ‘Higher’

Kevin Bronson on July 8th, 2016

0

The Naked and Famous (Photo by Samantha West)

The new single from L.A.-based New Zealanders the Naked and Famous is a banger — although, says singer Alisa Xayalith, “it’s not like this is an album of bangers, but it’s the most immediate thing we’ve ever done.” She’s referring to TNAF’s new album “Simple Forms,” which will be out Oct. 14. The band — Xayalith along with Thom Powers, Aaron Short, David Beadle and Jesse Wood — birthed the album in the Powers’ Echo Park home studio during a time his romantic relationship with Xayalith was disintegrating. “There’s pain and passion behind this,” she says. And in “Higher,” there’s bombast in front — “Transformer” synths and a digi-chorus that lives up to the title. Besides being ideal for radio, the single doesn’t really advance anything the quintet did on its first two albums, 2010’s “Passive Me, Aggressive You,” and 2013’s “In Rolling Waves.” Except turn everything up, which is plenty good to be famous these days.

||| Stream: “Higher”