Half String - A Fascination With Heights

Mail order only:

2LP+7” clear vinyl with download coupon limited to 200 numbered copies. 

Available to all:

2LP+7” black vinyl with download coupon limited to 300 numbered copies. 
CD+CD Single
Digital

CD+CD single features 30+ minutes of previously unreleased bonus material and bonus CD single featuring two previously unreleased songs packaged in a numbered letterpress printed oversized die cut package with 24-page booklet with extensive liner notes and previously unpublished photographs of the band.

2xLP features 30+ minutes of previously unreleased bonus material (plus one short instrumental not on the CD) and bonus 7" single with folding sleeve featuring two previously unreleased songs packaged in a numbered letterpress printed oversized die cut package with large folding insert with extensive liner notes. 

Half String’s A Fascination With Heights gets a special reissue treatment by Independent Project Records with this newly remastered and expanded version of the band’s first and only full-length release. Filled with beautiful melodies and harmonies, alternately hard-edged and chiming guitars, Heights reveals Half String at their peak in 1995 churning out well crafted songs and their brand of ‘beautiful noise’. Jack Rabid, writing in The Big Takeover has said, "'Shell Life' and especially 'Departures' set Half String off as the finest from the pack of American bands who've heard their share of U.K. post-Valentine pop-noises. The former positively soars over an airy, gorgeous twin-voiced chorus, cascading but also subtly hammering, unbelievingly beautiful but in no way limpid, fey, or undernourished. The latter seizes you with an ingeniously stabbing neo-jazz rat-a-tat martial-snare beat underneath untamed bass, swinging maniacally like it was indeed in a desperate hurry to depart for somewhere, the perfect marriage of beat, tune, sonic vistas, aggressive edge and pretty reflection." 

The expanded reissue of A Fascination With Heights is presented in the original track sequence from the 1996 compact disc release, along with 9 unreleased recordings. (The vinyl version includes an unlisted additional track.) The extra material comes from a variety of sources:  the ½-inch tape reels from the album recording sessions, rehearsal audiotapes, and a 1994 live performance. Also included is a special remix of the title track by Adam Cooper and featuring the vocals of Catherine Cooper of Alison’s Halo. 

But wait, there’s more! As an added bonus, this package will include a single with recordings from Half String’s 2012 and 2013 Part Time Punks radio sessions.

Double-album (+ bonus 7” single)  and Single-CD (+ bonus “fandisc” style CD) packaged in  letterpress-printed die cut discfolios designed by Bruce Licher. 24-page booklet with extensive liner notes, interviews, photos and Half String ephemera. Mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering in January 2021.

1. Shell Life 

2. Backstroke 

3. Hurrah? 

4. ... 

5. Departures 

6. Clipper (on vinyl only) 

7. A Fascination With Heights

8. Momentum 

9. Lolligag 

10. The Apathy Parade 

11. Numbers And Fingers 

12. Everton 

13. Stabbing 

14. Seconds Past  

15. A Fascination With Heights (Alison’s Halo remix) 

16. Boysenberry

17. Alaska

18. Skin Of My Teeth

Bonus Part Time Punks Session:

1.  Honeycut 

2.  Pelican (Night Version)