The Highest Order

Our music columnist Errol Nazareth discovered a local band last week called "The Highest Order", and he calls their music "cosmic country rock". Their debut album is titled "If It's Real" and it comes out on Tuesday.
Listen audio (runs 5:54) - CBC.ca

It Is Real

Ever wonder what country music would sound like if it had a touch of psychedelia to it? Well, Toronto’s the Highest Order has the answer, and to hear it is to hear something profound and staggering. The band is actually an offshoot of the group One Hundred Dollars, which has been a two-time Polaris Prize longlist nominee and the subject of another offshoot band called Fiver (so, yes, One Hundred Dollars is a pretty busy outfit). Taking inspiration from the likes of the solo career of Gene Clark (of the Byrds), the International Submarine Band and New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Highest Order turns to be a rather apt band name. This is music of the highest order, and I doubt a finer country-rock album than the band’s debut, If It’s Real, will come out of Canada, or anywhere else, this year. Drenched in heavy reverb and haunting melodies, this is music for playing at night as you travel down some lonesome back road with the lights of approaching cars and trucks providing halos on your cracked windshield. This album is, indeed, the real deal. Hear it, and you cannot deny its power, how closely it hues to the slightly off-kilter country sounds of fellow Canadians the Sadies or even the towering powerhouse of early Cowboy Junkies. If It’s Real is monumental in size and scope, and it reaches out and grabs you by your rhinestone-studded Nudie Suit and wrestles you to the ground.

The album deftly includes two covers of classics: Gram Parsons’ “Luxury Liner” makes an appearance, as well as a spacey take on Grammy-winner Charlie Rich’s “Lonely Weekends”. The band makes these songs its own, and you would be forgiven for thinking that they are originals. “Luxury Liner”, in particular, has a jaunty nature to it that has a real swagger and gallop, augmented by the rather unusual choice of employing a female lead vocalist on it (of whom I’ll spend more ink on in a moment or two). And “Lonely Weekends” is a captivating yarn given a druggy feel, as though the song is wrapped around a haze of opiates. However, as strong as these covers are, the original material stacks up well against it. “Rainbow of Blues” has a very Haight-Ashbury strum to it, and one could easily imagine Janis Joplin having her way with the tune. And “Offer Still Stands”, one of my favourite tracks, has a certain sense of yearning, and it comes across as the more straightforward country songs to be had on the album. “Chain Mail” has an almost folkloric feel, and it comes through the wringer as being as emotional as any song by Johnny Cash. Meanwhile, “Sacred Team” has a neat trick—towards the end of the song, it slows down at a warped warble, as though it were being played on a record player that was losing steam, making the material sound trippy.

The record’s real secret weapon, though, is vocalist Simone Schmidt, who sings on most of the tracks here. She has a commanding, powerful voice that booms and is deep—think of a feminine Cash and you’d be along the right path, or even a more sultry version of Margo Timmins from the Cowboy Junkies, if you’d prefer. It’s the kind of voice that you wouldn’t want to pick a fight with in a parking lot of some scuzzy dive, lest you want a beer bottle smashed over your head. Schmidt conveys an urgent sense of angst and anxiety in these tales of boozy love and loneliness. You can practically feel the alienation drenched in her vocal chords, a sense of being jilted, and the album propels itself along, anchored by the emotion and feeling of her singing. I personally haven’t heard a voice this captivating and tough as nails in all of its vulnerability in quite some time, and I’m quite smitten and taken by the way Schmidt uses her baritone as a tool, another musical instrument that gives If It’s Real a rather far out quality, and makes it seem even more woozy with her take on late night debauchery. In a sense, Schmidt elevates what’s already quite strong material into another transcendent realm altogether – taking the music of the Highest Order to a true pinnacle of musical achievement.

In short, If It’s Real is so exceptional, I’d gladly buy this album in duplicate for friends to hear. This is simply a record that you must have, because you simply just don’t listen to it—you feel it. If It’s Real is like a twisted knife in your gut, so unflinching in its raw honesty. Every song is a standout, even the three-part “Cosmic Manipulations”, which starts out dripped in reverb and muffled vocals, and gets slightly more powerful and profound as each movement, scattered across the album, is added to the mix. In fact, I’d go as far to say that this is a nearly tornado-proof album. I can find virtually no fault with it, aside from the fact that it may be a tad short even at a typical album length at 38 minutes. You just want to go along for this ride on and on, and take a protracted journey with this group of ragtag troubadours. Here’s hoping that this isn’t a one-off offshoot, and we’ll have more to hear fr - Pop Matters

The Highest Order - If It's Real
Idee Fixe
Published March 21, 2013 by Mark Teo in Record Reviews

While Simone Schmidt’s projects typically focus on her first-person stories — One Hundred Dollars and Fiver, for example, put listeners in the steel-toed boots of migrant farmers, hopeless addicts and bottom-rung oil men — her supporting ensemble is usually underrated. Songs of Man and Forest of Tears, to the credit of electric guitarist Paul Mortimer and bassist Kyle Porter, painted impeccable country-music backdrops for Schmidt’s tales of work, love and loss. Porter and Mortimer, along with Tropics’ drummer Simone TB, join Schmidt in The Highest Order, and If It’s Real is a logical, yet no less substantial, progression from One Hundred Dollars. And finally, Schmidt’s instrumental backing has finally caught up to her vivid storytelling — no small feat. (For real: In 2011, I called her “Canada’s next lyrical force.” Since then, she’s only gotten better.)

The Highest Order’s interpretation of Buddy Rich’s rockabilly-gospel standard “Lonely Weekends” is an exceptional illustration of the band’s aesthetic: Tremolo-dusted and haunted by Schmidt’s witch-esque moans, it’s both unsettlingly indecipherable and chillingly memorable, a trend that continues throughout If It’s Real. Much of that is due to Mortimer’s shape-shifting, fuzz-and-vibrato guitar work — on the three iterations of “Cosmic Manipulations,” his guitar veers from languid, to grease-soaked, to cheerily Tex-Mex — and the energized drumming of TB, which keeps If It’s Real moving briskly. It all provides a rebooted sonic backdrop for Schmidt’s struggle-centric stories, which cover familiar terrain: soul-draining work (“Chain Mail”), romances unjustly torn apart (“Sacred Team”) and good ole-fashioned alienation (on the sparse, haunting “Two Hundred Pounds,” perhaps the LP’s strongest track). Unlike the blunt-force trauma of her earlier narratives, these stories seem to unpack more with each listen — and they’re a sure sign that Schmidt and co. are getting better, if subtler, with age. - Fast Forward Weekly

The Highest Order - If It's Real
Idee Fixe
Published March 21, 2013 by Mark Teo in Record Reviews

While Simone Schmidt’s projects typically focus on her first-person stories — One Hundred Dollars and Fiver, for example, put listeners in the steel-toed boots of migrant farmers, hopeless addicts and bottom-rung oil men — her supporting ensemble is usually underrated. Songs of Man and Forest of Tears, to the credit of electric guitarist Paul Mortimer and bassist Kyle Porter, painted impeccable country-music backdrops for Schmidt’s tales of work, love and loss. Porter and Mortimer, along with Tropics’ drummer Simone TB, join Schmidt in The Highest Order, and If It’s Real is a logical, yet no less substantial, progression from One Hundred Dollars. And finally, Schmidt’s instrumental backing has finally caught up to her vivid storytelling — no small feat. (For real: In 2011, I called her “Canada’s next lyrical force.” Since then, she’s only gotten better.)

The Highest Order’s interpretation of Buddy Rich’s rockabilly-gospel standard “Lonely Weekends” is an exceptional illustration of the band’s aesthetic: Tremolo-dusted and haunted by Schmidt’s witch-esque moans, it’s both unsettlingly indecipherable and chillingly memorable, a trend that continues throughout If It’s Real. Much of that is due to Mortimer’s shape-shifting, fuzz-and-vibrato guitar work — on the three iterations of “Cosmic Manipulations,” his guitar veers from languid, to grease-soaked, to cheerily Tex-Mex — and the energized drumming of TB, which keeps If It’s Real moving briskly. It all provides a rebooted sonic backdrop for Schmidt’s struggle-centric stories, which cover familiar terrain: soul-draining work (“Chain Mail”), romances unjustly torn apart (“Sacred Team”) and good ole-fashioned alienation (on the sparse, haunting “Two Hundred Pounds,” perhaps the LP’s strongest track). Unlike the blunt-force trauma of her earlier narratives, these stories seem to unpack more with each listen — and they’re a sure sign that Schmidt and co. are getting better, if subtler, with age. - Fast Forward Weekly

The Highest Order, If It’s Real (Idée Fixe). Yet another group splintered from the membership of One Hundred Dollars, the Highest Order finds vocalist Simone Schmidt, guitarist Paul Mortimer and bassist Kyle Porter joining forces with drummer Simone TB of Ell v Gore for a spooky night ride into country music’s more psychedelic nether regions. If It’s Real is dedicated to Eric’s Trip/Elevator auteur Rick White, and while he didn’t oversee this recording directly you can definitely hear his cosmic influence all over the thing, from the airy shuffle of “Lonely Weekends” and “Offer Still Stands” to the tripped-out “Cosmic Manipulations” that occasionally break up the track listing. The bleak atmosphere is a perfect complement to Schmidt’s world-weary croak and bottomless catalogue of intensely human hard-luck tales, while the repetitive, occasionally Velvet Underground-esque arrangements provide Mortimer with ample opportunity to show off his fleet-fingered guitar prowess. Perhaps he should show off a bit more. Dunno what’s going on with One Hundred Dollars at the moment, but between the Highest Order and Fiver there certainly appears to be no lack of creativity within the camp.
-Ben Rayner - Toronto Star

The Highest Order, If It’s Real (Idée Fixe). Yet another group splintered from the membership of One Hundred Dollars, the Highest Order finds vocalist Simone Schmidt, guitarist Paul Mortimer and bassist Kyle Porter joining forces with drummer Simone TB of Ell v Gore for a spooky night ride into country music’s more psychedelic nether regions. If It’s Real is dedicated to Eric’s Trip/Elevator auteur Rick White, and while he didn’t oversee this recording directly you can definitely hear his cosmic influence all over the thing, from the airy shuffle of “Lonely Weekends” and “Offer Still Stands” to the tripped-out “Cosmic Manipulations” that occasionally break up the track listing. The bleak atmosphere is a perfect complement to Schmidt’s world-weary croak and bottomless catalogue of intensely human hard-luck tales, while the repetitive, occasionally Velvet Underground-esque arrangements provide Mortimer with ample opportunity to show off his fleet-fingered guitar prowess. Perhaps he should show off a bit more. Dunno what’s going on with One Hundred Dollars at the moment, but between the Highest Order and Fiver there certainly appears to be no lack of creativity within the camp.
-Ben Rayner - Toronto Star

The Highest Order is a psych-rock band from Toronto featuring Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer and Kyle Porter of One Hundred Dollars. And with Simone TB on drums, the band has the exact same lineup as Schmidt’s solo project, Fiver.

Over a stretch of a few days, I recently had an email chat with Schmidt and Mortimer about the Highest Order's new LP, If It’s Real, which was produced by Jeff McMurrich, and is streaming here for one week. So press the play button below, and read our conversation while you listen.


The Highest Order is a psych-rock band from Toronto featuring Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer and Kyle Porter of One Hundred Dollars. And with Simone TB on drums, the band has the exact same lineup as Schmidt’s solo project, Fiver.

Over a stretch of a few days, I recently had an email chat with Schmidt and Mortimer about the Highest Order's new LP, If It’s Real, which was produced by Jeff McMurrich, and is streaming here for one week. So press the play button below, and read our conversation while you listen.





ListenIf It’s Real ?by The Highest Order
Streaming until March 19
Tracklist



(Courtesy of Idée Fixe)



Let us start simply: You have collaborated together before. What was your vision for the Highest Order, as it relates to your past work?

Paul Mortimer: Initially the vision was just to make a record. We wanted make a live record, recorded and arranged really loosely and quickly. The band came together really naturally and almost thoughtlessly, as a secondary thing 'cause it was already all there. It was really obvious, at least to me. There was no period of pondering who would be involved cause we'd already been playing together.

Simone Schmidt: What Paul and I were developing as collaborators in One Hundred Dollars, was an ease in arranging songs together. He'd also been developing into a pretty diverse guitar player. Seeing as he had to learn how to cover parts recorded by pedal steel and organ with his guitar, he got good at dialing up all these far out guitar tones, and picking in a range of styles, that made for pretty psyched-out sonic pallet. Up until now I've been known for releasing ballads in the Tom T. Hall style — long-winded and dense storytelling. But I'd also been keeping simpler country songs to myself - songs along the Willie Nelson lines, where you're hammering home metaphors and turning clichés, and I thought that rather than do a throwback record, the Highest Order could psyche those out.

Why did Paul have to cover other instruments with his guitar? Were there other people in the band?

Mortimer?: I was originally the bass player for One Hundred Dollars and then became the guitarist, as a touring member when other players couldn't make it. Mostly for Stew Crookes who also plays steel on the Highest Order record. So ya, I'd cover his steel lines on guitar and then kinda figure it out on my own from there.

Ok, so what is the relationship between One Hundred Dollars, Fiver, and the Highest Order? How are they distinctive outlets for you both?

Mortimer?: Highest Order is definitely a more collaborative effort as a band in terms of arranging and writing. But I also feel that on this record I really got my way in terms of production and arrangement. I was kind of allowed to just do what I wanted with a lot of support from the band and because I’d worked with Jeff McMurrich in the past and we already had a dialogue, I was able to just go about it. It was great because any time I was stuck on something or unsure everyone else just really stepped up. It was super easy and fun.

Fiver definitely feels like a Simone solo project to me even though there is a bit of collaboration going on between Simone and I, as well as Simone and Stew. One Hundred Dollars was for the most part Ian [Russell] and Simone but also laid the groundwork for Simone and I as collaborators.

Schmidt?: With Fiver I want license to play with whomever I want, including alone, and to produce songs in whatever style I choose. I suppose it might appear a bit confusing because when I haven't been touring solo, I've been touring Fiver with members of the Highest Order, but over time that could change. I just want the same freedom that song writers had in the past, before the industry's obsession with branding developed- there will be songs that are shared between projects, but produced and arranged differently, not unlike Gene Clark and the Byrds, or Neil Young and Crazy Horse, you know? On If It's Real the song "Two Hundred Pounds" was originally written for the old time duo I play in with banjo player Chris Coole, but we re-arranged it for the Highest Order. This seems perfectly musical to me.The Highest Order's line-up shares decision making musically and organizationally in a way that it doesn't in Fiver. It's much more collaborative.

Lyrically, there's a lot more mysticism, self-searching, and a conjuring of natural/environmental elements happening - CBC Music

The Highest Order is a psych-rock band from Toronto featuring Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer and Kyle Porter of One Hundred Dollars. And with Simone TB on drums, the band has the exact same lineup as Schmidt’s solo project, Fiver.

Over a stretch of a few days, I recently had an email chat with Schmidt and Mortimer about the Highest Order's new LP, If It’s Real, which was produced by Jeff McMurrich, and is streaming here for one week. So press the play button below, and read our conversation while you listen.


The Highest Order is a psych-rock band from Toronto featuring Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer and Kyle Porter of One Hundred Dollars. And with Simone TB on drums, the band has the exact same lineup as Schmidt’s solo project, Fiver.

Over a stretch of a few days, I recently had an email chat with Schmidt and Mortimer about the Highest Order's new LP, If It’s Real, which was produced by Jeff McMurrich, and is streaming here for one week. So press the play button below, and read our conversation while you listen.





ListenIf It’s Real ?by The Highest Order
Streaming until March 19
Tracklist



(Courtesy of Idée Fixe)



Let us start simply: You have collaborated together before. What was your vision for the Highest Order, as it relates to your past work?

Paul Mortimer: Initially the vision was just to make a record. We wanted make a live record, recorded and arranged really loosely and quickly. The band came together really naturally and almost thoughtlessly, as a secondary thing 'cause it was already all there. It was really obvious, at least to me. There was no period of pondering who would be involved cause we'd already been playing together.

Simone Schmidt: What Paul and I were developing as collaborators in One Hundred Dollars, was an ease in arranging songs together. He'd also been developing into a pretty diverse guitar player. Seeing as he had to learn how to cover parts recorded by pedal steel and organ with his guitar, he got good at dialing up all these far out guitar tones, and picking in a range of styles, that made for pretty psyched-out sonic pallet. Up until now I've been known for releasing ballads in the Tom T. Hall style — long-winded and dense storytelling. But I'd also been keeping simpler country songs to myself - songs along the Willie Nelson lines, where you're hammering home metaphors and turning clichés, and I thought that rather than do a throwback record, the Highest Order could psyche those out.

Why did Paul have to cover other instruments with his guitar? Were there other people in the band?

Mortimer?: I was originally the bass player for One Hundred Dollars and then became the guitarist, as a touring member when other players couldn't make it. Mostly for Stew Crookes who also plays steel on the Highest Order record. So ya, I'd cover his steel lines on guitar and then kinda figure it out on my own from there.

Ok, so what is the relationship between One Hundred Dollars, Fiver, and the Highest Order? How are they distinctive outlets for you both?

Mortimer?: Highest Order is definitely a more collaborative effort as a band in terms of arranging and writing. But I also feel that on this record I really got my way in terms of production and arrangement. I was kind of allowed to just do what I wanted with a lot of support from the band and because I’d worked with Jeff McMurrich in the past and we already had a dialogue, I was able to just go about it. It was great because any time I was stuck on something or unsure everyone else just really stepped up. It was super easy and fun.

Fiver definitely feels like a Simone solo project to me even though there is a bit of collaboration going on between Simone and I, as well as Simone and Stew. One Hundred Dollars was for the most part Ian [Russell] and Simone but also laid the groundwork for Simone and I as collaborators.

Schmidt?: With Fiver I want license to play with whomever I want, including alone, and to produce songs in whatever style I choose. I suppose it might appear a bit confusing because when I haven't been touring solo, I've been touring Fiver with members of the Highest Order, but over time that could change. I just want the same freedom that song writers had in the past, before the industry's obsession with branding developed- there will be songs that are shared between projects, but produced and arranged differently, not unlike Gene Clark and the Byrds, or Neil Young and Crazy Horse, you know? On If It's Real the song "Two Hundred Pounds" was originally written for the old time duo I play in with banjo player Chris Coole, but we re-arranged it for the Highest Order. This seems perfectly musical to me.The Highest Order's line-up shares decision making musically and organizationally in a way that it doesn't in Fiver. It's much more collaborative.

Lyrically, there's a lot more mysticism, self-searching, and a conjuring of natural/environmental elements happening - CBC Music

The Highest Order - If It’s Real
(Idée Fixe)
By Richard Trapunski
Now Rating NNNN


Fans of roots and country in Toronto know Simone Schmidt and Paul Mortimer as principal members of One Hundred Dollars, but they’ve reshuffled into the Highest Order, with drummer Simone TB (Tropics, Ell V Gore) and bassist Kyle Porter in the rhythm section. Though the group shares DNA with the previous one – a penchant for gritty murder ballads and tales of loneliness and yearning – this debut album is a whole new beast.

TB’s noise and garage rock background informs her drumming and gives the band a kick of heavy energy, especially on the motorik Kraut-country Cosmic Manipulations, whose three parts are spread across the album. Mortimer plays lead in One Hundred Dollars but takes even more of the spotlight here, his frequently foregrounded psychedelic guitar providing spacey, stoned warmth.

As usual, though, Schmidt commands most of the attention with her confident, husky vocals and lyrics that add depth to classic country themes.

Top track: Lonely Weekends
- Now Magazine

The Highest Order - If It’s Real
(Idée Fixe)
By Richard Trapunski
Now Rating NNNN


Fans of roots and country in Toronto know Simone Schmidt and Paul Mortimer as principal members of One Hundred Dollars, but they’ve reshuffled into the Highest Order, with drummer Simone TB (Tropics, Ell V Gore) and bassist Kyle Porter in the rhythm section. Though the group shares DNA with the previous one – a penchant for gritty murder ballads and tales of loneliness and yearning – this debut album is a whole new beast.

TB’s noise and garage rock background informs her drumming and gives the band a kick of heavy energy, especially on the motorik Kraut-country Cosmic Manipulations, whose three parts are spread across the album. Mortimer plays lead in One Hundred Dollars but takes even more of the spotlight here, his frequently foregrounded psychedelic guitar providing spacey, stoned warmth.

As usual, though, Schmidt commands most of the attention with her confident, husky vocals and lyrics that add depth to classic country themes.

Top track: Lonely Weekends
- Now Magazine

By Alex HudsonOne Hundred Dollars have already spawned the spin-off act Fiver, and now several of the members of the Toronto alt-country group have branched out with a new project called the Highest Order. You can listen to their debut single now.

The band features core One Hundred Dollars members Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer and Kyle Porter joined by Simone TB. They recently recorded their debut album with producer Jeff McMurrich, and you can get a taste of it in the form of "Rainbow of Blues" backed by a cover of Dave Berry's "The Crying Game."

A press release explains, "Simone Schmidt's lyrics still paint pictures but this time her words are surrounded by the Highest Order's cosmic world of echo and trem."

These two songs will be released on 7-inch vinyl on November 27, with a release show at the Silver Dollar in Toronto on November 24.

Look for the band's debut LP to arrive in February 2013 via Idée Fixe Records.
- exclaim.ca

By Alex HudsonOne Hundred Dollars have already spawned the spin-off act Fiver, and now several of the members of the Toronto alt-country group have branched out with a new project called the Highest Order. You can listen to their debut single now.

The band features core One Hundred Dollars members Simone Schmidt, Paul Mortimer and Kyle Porter joined by Simone TB. They recently recorded their debut album with producer Jeff McMurrich, and you can get a taste of it in the form of "Rainbow of Blues" backed by a cover of Dave Berry's "The Crying Game."

A press release explains, "Simone Schmidt's lyrics still paint pictures but this time her words are surrounded by the Highest Order's cosmic world of echo and trem."

These two songs will be released on 7-inch vinyl on November 27, with a release show at the Silver Dollar in Toronto on November 24.

Look for the band's debut LP to arrive in February 2013 via Idée Fixe Records.
- exclaim.ca