Up on High in Bloomington, MN

Singer/songwriter
Andy Cabic
's output as
Vetiver
underwent many shifts as it outlived the freak folk scene it grew adjacently out of and moved calmly and steadily through the end of the aughts. The project stayed active but slowed down significantly, touring less and releasing new albums at a rate of every four years. 2015's
Perfect Strangers
saw
Cabic
lacing his rootsy folk rock songs with subtle electronic touches and layering the production.
Up on High
returns to more spacious songwriting and a far more direct reading of
's gentle but mature perspectives. The ten songs that comprise
are open and spare, with
's usually hushed vocals higher in the mix and all the yacht rock trappings of recent albums dialed way back. The album opens with "The Living End," a slowly ambling folk rocker. Understated playing and the subtle interaction of simplistic parts give the song a classic feeling, not unlike the more revelatory moments of
Neil Young
and
Tom Petty
. Spindly guitar leads interlock for a moment, allowing for a winking nod to the
Grateful Dead
. Much of the album occupies this space, with highlights like "To Who Knows Where" and "Wanted, Never Asked" feeling airy and mellow without losing artistic drive.
entertains different muses throughout the course of
. "Hold Tight" is built on a friendly groove, with the same breezy, streetwise energy of
Jackson Browne
or
One Trick Pony
-era
Paul Simon
. Elsewhere, the upbeat jangle of "Swaying" meshes early
R.E.M.
with
's eternal twilight songwriting style. Making more space in the arrangements serves the songs far better than the experiments with instrumentation and density that cluttered moments of the albums directly preceding
. It's a clear and focused return to the peaks the band found in the mid-2000s, and as enjoyable a listen as the best of their work. ~ Fred Thomas