Chris's SOTW - How High | Kneebody, Inara George

Twinkling guitar sounds rise to your eardrums much like shimmering lights flitter through your bedroom window on a bright and cold winter morning. A steady bass drum rises you to your feet, pushing you out of your covers. Dozens of layers of your own internal voice monologuing at you about whatever the issue is that is eating away at your soul. These are the feelings that Kneebody have captured with their latest single, How High.

Kneebody is a jazz quintet from Los Angeles who you may know from their work with Daedelus or Busdriver. Inara George is a singer-songwriter from Santa Monica who is half of indie-pop duo, The Bird and the Bee. Together they make a beautiful, aural pairing that reminds me of BADBADNOTGOOD’s track with Charlotte Day Wilson, In Your Eyes, off of 2016’s IV.

George and Kneebody saxophonist, Ben Wendel, weave a hypnotic sax and voice duet using each other’s natural need to breathe as a point to step in or out of the chart. This, combined with the wonderfully textured keys of Kneebody’s keyboardist, Adam Benjamin, and the incredibly steady and methodical percussion from Nate Wood lend themselves to creating a song that will easily worm its way into your brain and beckon you throughout the day like a siren song.