Search - High Strung :: Moxie Bravo

"A masterpiece." - Bob Pollard, Guided By Voices "Motown, Iggy Pop, Eminem-now Detroit has given us The High Strung. And we're better for it."- KEXP "The New Wave revival has produced its first acolytes who love life as much as it drives them crazy. Isn't that why people write songs, anyway?" - ROLLING STONE Moxie Bravo is a sneaky album. If it were playing in the background, or blasting at a bar, a listener might mistake its energy and bombastic sound for one hell of a party record. But if that listener were to allow his ears to fasten onto the songs, he would discover that The High Strung is onto something wholly unique. The High Strung is not garage. The members do not have a bluesy bone in their bodies, and Moxie Bravo reflects that. Josh Malerman, the band's singer and writer, alternates his lyrics between Lewis Carroll-ish character sketches and songs about sexual triumphs. Musically, the band is clearly led by their rhythm section. Chad Stocker plays a lead bass, and Derek Berk matches him. But The High Strung are a "songs first" band, and it is impossible to form an opinion about them without considering their subject matter. Malerman's lyrics sound more like an eerie children's novel than they do the traditional canon of be-my-girl rock `n' roll. And for this, and for the sheer originality of their arrangements, Moxie Bravo is something to be experienced rather than felt.