Kevin Bronson on December 17th, 2016

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“Higher” is the latest song tease from L.A.’s Mondo Cozmo, the new musical persona of Joshua Ostrander (ex-Eastern Conference Champions). It’s a cowbell-spiked dance-punk song dressed up in denim, bearing with the DNA of the Stones and the Boss and spackled with the whooshes and clackety-clack of modern electronic effects. In the new band’s first few live shows, “Higher” has accomplished its mission of moving bodies; in director Carter B. Smith’s video, though, actress/writer/artist Paz de la Huerta (“The Cider House Rules,” “A Walk to Remember” and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) rolls around in paint on a large canvas. “Fun fact,” Mr. Cozmo explains. “We shot the video for a different song but after seeing Paz’s performance, I wrote ‘Higher’ and switched songs.” While we’re skeptical of that claim, we are reasonably sure that Mondo Cozmo’s full-length album will be out in the new year, followed by some festival appearances.

||| Watch: The video for “Higher”

||| Previously: “Hold On to Me,” “Shine,” “Plastic Soul”