Unfamiliar with Highspire’s music? Stop reading this and check out their two excellent albums, Your Everything and Aquatic. If you already own them and want more of their modern take on shoegaze then this rarities collection is highly recommended. As you would expect from an album of rarities, alternate versions, live tracks and other ephemera from over a decade of activity, the recording quality changes from song to song, but the band’s sugary melodies drenched in every kind of guitar noise possible is consistent throughout. You want great previously unreleased songs? Check out “Believe” (available in both regular and acoustic forms), “Flight,” or “The World Is Waiting.” You want Highspire’s take on the shoegaze classics? Well, they’ve got you covered with their spin on Slowdive’s “Dagger” (really nice arrangement on this one) and Ride’s “Close My Eyes.” Do you yearn for inventive zero-gravity soundscapes? Not problem – give “Arthur Dent” and “Left In Shadows” a spin. Whatever you do, don’t wait long because Sleight Of Hand For The Down And Out is only available in a limited run from their label Reverse Reverb (has there ever been a label with a more shoegaze-friendly name?), so you might just want to click over here: http://reversereverb.bigcartel.com/product/highspire-sleight-of-hand-for-the-down-and-out-ltd-cd
Tracklisting:
1. Believe
2. Flight
3. Shattered (EP version)
4. To Tomorrow’s Highways
5. Believe (Acoustic)
6. Skies You Climb (Live)
7. Chipping Campden (Vox Remix)
8. Close My Eyes (Ride Cover)
9. Dagger (Slowdive Cover)
10. Arthur Dent
11. Left In Shadows
12. The World Is Waiting
Midnight To Six 