Jeen – “Higher and Higher” (audio) (Premiere)

“Higher and Higher”, a bonus track on Jeen’s (Jeen O’Brien, also of Cookie Duster) forthcoming Tourist Deluxe Edition LP, starts out unassumingly. Its hushed opening immediately brings the word “lo-fi” to mind, but not long after this the chorus kicks in, with a drumbeat and a catchy vocal that makes this sound like the kind of tune ripe for singing and clapping along to in a live setting. Like the rest of Tourist, “Higher and Higher was recorded in a lo-fi setup in Jeen’s Toronto attic, but “lo-fi” here does not denote a lack of life or vivacity; far from it, in fact.

Jeen says to PopMatters, “For me ‘Higher and Higher’ is about the ebb and flow of getting to where you want to be without falling apart before you get there. The track was recorded in my attic like the rest of the record, but it didn’t have the luxury of a big studio mix… so [it’s] definitely a bit more homegrown than the bulk of the record. [The track is] produced, mixed and played by me with my husband Stephan Szczesniak on drums and our friend Griffin on additional guitar and bass.”

Tourist Deluxe Edition is out on 30 June (iTunes pre-order).