Silent Treatment

Having earned “best new band” honors from Pitchfork, NME, and Paste magazine, Norway’s Highasakite made immediate headway with their debut EP, 2013’s In and Out of Weeks, as well as with a series of live performances that made a believer out of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Though the band have five capable members, it’s lead vocalist Ingrid Helene Havik who transforms the material from competent to otherworldly. It’s the singer more than the song in many cases. However, the chemistry of singer, band, and song work together on dramatic tracks such as “Lover, Where Do You Live?,” “Since Last Wednesday” (also featuring Havik’s steel drum), and “Hiroshima,” for starters. The quintet are further driven by drummer Trond Bersu, the multiple synths of Oystein Skar and Marte Eberso, and the atmospheric guitar of Kristoffer Lo. “My Only Crime” and “I, the Hand Grenade” are subtle, lyrical pieces, while “Iran” incorporates traditional Norwegian and Bulgarian instrumental and vocal techniques.