First there’s just a chiming guitar, picking out plaintive, atmospheric chords. A second guitar unleashes a denser set of notes on a splash from the drums. Then the rhythm falls in as both guitars and bass take off into a hazy splendor. Even when the drums double-time it for the chorus, and the vocals bounce on the lyrical hook — the “high” in “somewhere high” stretched out to hah-ee-yah-ee-yah-ee — the song’s sunny fog doesn’t disperse.
Clocking in at only 3:02, Witch Hair’s “Somewhere High” is a song that feels over too soon, which in this case is a good thing. When it’s done, you can just hit play again.
“Somewhere High” is the third song from Out on Love, Witch Hair’s second release since 2017’s You Are Not a Surface. In that time, Witch Hair has become a steady presence in New Haven’s music scene, and Out on Love makes it easy to understand why. Joe Russo (vocals and guitar), Ashley Kenney (vocals and bass) and Tom Connolly (drums) are a fully developed power trio, able to fill a club with a roar and also drop down to a whisper.
Their songwriting, meanwhile, balances tunefulness and dissonance, sweetness and murk. Alongside “Somewhere High” summery shimmer is the sharp squall of “Halo,” the album’s raucous opener. Where “Cracked Pavement” finds the band’s drone at its richest, “Say Anything” boasts an arrangement that has the band almost genre-hopping into straight-up dance music. And parts of “Motorcycle I” and “Motorcycle II” have the sneaky, tense feel of a spy movie.
Then the album’s closer, “You Are Not a Surface,” feels like a summation of the seven songs that preceded it. It takes the most chances with an expansive arrangement that pays off as the trio fills their biggest sonic space yet. “Welcome to my house, take a look around,” Kenney and Russo sing together. On Out on Love, you can feel right at home.
