High Cross Society – ‘Every Time I Look’ [Review]

Opinion

I’m going to be honest here: I’m not a big hip-hop guy. I got into NWA briefly, during my stereotypically adolescent “Fuck you grown-ups, I never asked to be born” phase, but over the 15 years that separate then from now my awareness of hip-hop has been patchy at best.

Artists like High Cross Society, however, make me want to change that. Post-haste.

I wish I could list a bunch of artists that might have done / be doing something similar to what High Cross Society are doing here, and give you some kind of context for Every Time I Look, but frankly I can’t. What I have done, however, is listen to something outside my usual comfort zone with fresh ears. And I like what I hear. Band-driven hip-hop always tops DJ / MC sets in my (admittedly limited) experience, and the superior former is what we have here. The ragtime-flavoured piano hook is a personal highlight, as are the solidly grooving drums, fluidly stumbling vocals, and deeply intelligent lyrics. In fact, the hell with it, everything is a highlight here – Every Time I Look is crammed with lovingly detailed touches, and it’s wrapped up in a fantastic production job that showcases each instrumentalist’s efforts with crystal clear clarity. Incredible stuff.

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