High Water is a collaborative studio album by El-P featuring The Blue Series Continuum. It was released through Thirsty Ear Recordings on March 9, 2004. It peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.
Critical reception
High Water was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71 based on 9 reviews.
Reviewing for The Village Voice in September 2004, Tom Hull said this album "shows more meat" than the previous two Blue Series Continuum albums, "probably because El-P carves what the band gives him rather than smothering it in sauce." Thom Jurek of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying: "In sum, it's a moody and haunting record with a few highs, a few lows, and lots of shades of blue to make your way through." David Moore of Pitchfork gave the album a 7.2 out of 10, saying, "El-P's edits and subtle production work strengthens the ensemble's more indulgent moments." He added, "El-P sometimes seems reluctant to interfere with the ensemble's improvisation, which is a shame considering that the album's strongest tracks show him taking the reins from individual players." Meanwhile, Stefan Braidwood of PopMatters said, "El-P has now proven beyond all doubt that he merits a further word in his description, and that word is: genius."
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
El-P – composition, production, arrangement, mixing
Matthew Shipp – piano
Daniel Carter – reeds, flute
Steve Swell – trombone
Roy Campbell – trumpet
William Parker – double bass
Guillermo E. Brown – drums
Harry Keys – vocals (7) Tim Conklin – recording Scott Hull – mastering Cynthia Fetty – art direction, photography Loretta Wong – design, layout