Live At Mercury Lounge: North Highlands

PEOPLE WERE DANCING.

That's really the only thing you need to take away from this show when it comes down to it. People. Were. DANCING.

To get that many pairs of legs to bounce along to music in New York City isn't easy, and North Highlands somehow, some way, pulled it off at Mercury Lounge when they blew the place up last night.

Besides finding out that people in the city know how to cheer, clap and boogie (a rare trifecta in these parts of town, may I add), we were also presented with drummer Jasper Berg's lovely set of stems, and found out the California hometown that North Highlands takes their name from isn't quite the, ahem, serene, babbling brook type of countryside it infers itself to be.

Not that the band hasn't been getting their fare share of scenery lately — with trips back and forth to Philadelphia, where they've been recording their almost-80%-done album, I'm sure they've soaked in a lot of the beautiful, American highway system. Oh, the splendid roadsides!

Well, at least there's this — now, we know when they're finally done recording, there'll be a whole slew of people around applaud it. Loudly.

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Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session: North Highlands
Big Ugly Yellow Christmas Covers: "Last Christmas"

Couch Session: North Highlands.

Couch Session #9 — North Highlands

Gorgeous songs, welcomed guests and snickerdoodles for five —
There's few simpler ways to feel so completely revived.
Maybe it's the sugar, or maybe it’s just the songs,
Which, understandably, I've been humming along to all week long.
You remind me of a train ride, chugging slowly back home,
To a town that's familiar, a place already known.
You remind me of the morning, waking up who knows when,
Getting ready to start the same sort of day all over again.
But when morning's a blessing, and night is a curse,
And time is just a road you aim to traverse,
Who you spend it with matters, the company you're among —
The same thought behind these gentle words that they've sung.
Whether you're in the actual North Highlands, nestled on the Left Coast,
Or so far from a loved one they feel like a ghost,
This quintet should do the musical trick,
So long as you can decide which of their recordings to pick:

MP3s:

North Highlands - "Sugar Lips (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

North Highlands - "Collar Bones (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

North Highlands - "Fresca (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

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