Click to watch

The High Strung perform "N Over C" from their album "Moxie Bravo"

By combining musical equipment from the past and present, it’s easy enough to create a record that sounds like it was made at the height of The British Invasion. But writing songs that are good enough to make those sonic choices sound like more than just hollow posturing is much more difficult. The High Strung knows how to put together tight, concise pop songs that have immediacy and staying power. The same talent that led The Washington Post to name “The Songbird,” from the band’s album These Are Good Times, one of the best songs of 2003 is all over this follow-up record, Moxy Bravo. In the two years between releases, The High Strung has gone through some big changes. In 2004 vocalist Mark Owen bowed out and the remaining members decided to continue as a trio; leaving full-time lead vocal duties to guitarist Josh Malerman. With Owen went a certain unhinged quality that originally helped to distinguish the group from the ever-growing pack of garage rock wannabes, but The High Strung still has the songwriting and chops to set the group apart from the majority of ’60s revivalists. For Moxy Bravo, the band once again chose to record with the master of skuzzy garage rock, Jim Diamond. While the results certainly could not be called polished, the record isn’t as gritty as These Are Good Times. The High Strung is obviously influenced by bands like The Zombies, The Kinks, and The Creation, but it is never confined by its retro style. Moxie Bravo is loaded with music and lyrics that are intelligent and inspired, and that’s why The High Strung is more than just warmed-over corpses of dead rock legends.