Safe On The Other Side

Description

Following "Another Night" (2011), "You Are Here" (2014), "Motivator" (2016) and "Hard To Stop" (2020) Chicago's finest, the mighty High Spirits, are about to unleash their long awaited fifth studio album entitled "Safe On The Other Side" onto the expectant public. There is probably not a more fitting record to mark the 20th anniversary of High Roller Records. "Safe On The Other Side" bears the catalogue number HRR1000 and Chris "The Professor" Black, multi-instrumentalist, singer and founder of High Spirits, feels extremely honoured by this. "I recorded the album entirely in my home studio here in Chicago," explains Chris about how he approached the recordings of "Safe On The Other Side". "The drums and vocals for "Another Night" were recorded in a professional studio, and then just the drums for "You Are Here". But since then I have worked alone in my attic studio, which has come to be known as the 'Gates Of Heaven And Hell', although we don't usually credit it at all. I believe I started recording what became "Safe On The Other Side" in July of 2022. It was a long and difficult process. By February of 2023, the major work was done, including most of the vocals. I guess it was finally late April when I bundled up all of the tracks and sent them to Dan Swanö for the mixing." "I just wrote the songs I was in the mood to write," answers the High Spirits main man when asked if there was a certain master plan behind "Safe On The Other Side", "and as usual, this included building on some fragments which have been in my pockets for a long time. For example the 'One Day Closer' refrain was on a demo reel from 2015. 'There Will Be Magic Tonight' was written for "Hard To Stop" but did not reach a finished stage at that time. I tried to keep my mind open, simply to follow my inspiration, and trust that the process would result in individual songs that were suitable for High Spirits. It was the recording process which essentially herded those songs into one container and bonded them together as an album." In some places "Safe On The Other Side" might come across like the most "experimental" album in the career of High Spirits, with the band trying out new styles (and sounds). Would this be a fair thing to say? Sometimes it's easy for the listener to get a wrong impression... "I will say that side A is maybe the more typical and familiar High Spirits rotation," answers "The Professor", "and side B gets a little more exotic. I wouldn't say 'experimental' necessarily, because High Spirits is itself a giant experiment, but there's an element of risk to some of those songs. 'Memories' is downright playing with fire, right? But I need that. I took a huge risk in creating High Spirits in the first place, and look what happened." Tracklisting: 1. In The Moonlight 2. Til The End Of Time 3. Lonely Nights 4. One Day Closer 5. Anything You Need 6. (There Will Be) Magic Tonight 7. Loving You 8. Please Don't Leave Me Behind 9. Memories 10. Good Night