Back in 2020 Thee Holy Brothers sparked into view with their excellent debut album My Name Is Sparkle. The duo -Marvin Etzioni (ex Lone Justice) and Willie Aron (of The Third Mind) – were so named by the rabbi at their local synagogue , Mordecai Finley, who described them thus, a moniker which was heartily endorsed by another member of the congregation, Leonard Cohen. My Name Is Sparkle was kind of a psychedelic and trippy audio update of Candide, the protagonist an innocent in search of enlightenment, seeking Jesus but eventually finding Elvis instead.
High In My Balloon is the second instalment in a proposed trilogy of Sparkle’s adventures but it’s not perhaps the album thee brothers initially expected to record as the blight of cancer reared its ugly head during its recording. Etzioni was diagnosed with cancer and, sadly, Aron’s spouse died of the disease. Etzioni was eventually given the all clear after treatment and the album’s title is a nod to his reaction as he says that “I was so elated at the news, I felt like I was levitating, like I was high in a balloon. I did what I always do, I wrote a song about it.” Not just one song however as Etzioni takes Sparkle on a ten track odyssey from doubt, travails and eventual elation, approximating his own trajectory as he fought his illness.
Despite its harrowing gestation the album is quite uplifting, at times almost ecstatic. The pair’s vocals are brotherly harmonies of the first degree and they gleefully inhabit the cloaks of acts such as The Everlys, The Beatles and The Beach Boys on several of the songs. In addition, they cleave to the first album’s sometime off kilter approach giving the whole affair a singular identity, unique to these two somewhat battered brothers who have achieved a degree of excellence in the face of adversity.
The album opens with a rousing, almost Spector like flourish, on the powerful chimes of Born Torn as our Sparkle, cognisant from the off, sees the world and his future as a series of binary choices and this black and white confusion is maintained in the Beach Boys like reverie which is The Holy In Everything. Here, daily dismal distractions such as war bulletins on TV lead to a sense of ennui but on occasion there’s an opening in which our protagonist can see what he describes as The Holy In Everything. There’s a cacophony of car horns tooting throughout the grungy Guru Honk, a song which is the flip side of George Harrison’s mysticism, the addition of a mellotron towards the end a nod perhaps to those vainglorious days.
Sunshine In My Veins is a startling pop song of the first degree but, such as is thee brothers wont, it’s slightly out of tune, creating a woozy feeling in the listener. It’s somewhat apt as Etzioni says he wrote it in an attempt to portray his experiences on chemotherapy. Magic Jacket meanwhile comes across like an undiscovered psychedelic Who track, left off The Who Sell Out. It’s the breakout song here, the protagonist, just like The Who’s Tommy, unbound and able to conquer all adversity, in fact almost in charge of all as is proposed on the philosophical thoughts contained on the following I Am Time, another glorious song.
Emily Parade comes across as a slight interlude, a whimsical song in the manner of Robyn Hitchcock, it meanders well before the horn ridden I Can See From My Window Now stomps into view, another song which swells with optimism, “A new day for everyone” they sing. Ode To Harry Cell is presumably a farewell to the cancerous cells which Etzioni conquered and is given a delightful almost bluegrass treatment and the album closes with the title song which, as mentioned above, Etzioni wrote on getting the all clear. Over a stabbing Hammond organ riff, the brothers get again all Beatles like on a triumphant song which has a wonderful coda.
Forget the concept and revel in the sounds here. Steeped in harmony history and given an idiosyncratic twist, High In My Balloon is, quite simply, quite brilliant and we sincerely hope that these Holy Brothers carry on and deliver the third instalment of their Sparkle trilogy.