WHO ARE THEY? Cohabitating collaborators Mary Pearson and Rob Barber hang their hats in Brooklyn when they’re not touring, an increasingly rare occurrence these days. Together, they make raucously joyous soundscapes that are equal parts Krautrock, Beat Happening and Sesame Street, a breathlessly kid-like tangle of found-sound percussion — think beats that sound like breaking glass, rattling chains and Yahtzee dice ­— and bloopy noises wrapped around Pearson’s unaffected vocal melodies. (For a sampling, download their 03/07-09/07 compilation from eMusic.)

Barber, who grew up a hardcore kid, explains that High Places developed their unique vibe partly as a response to what they viewed as an excess of “male… aggressive music in New York. From my end, I did like aggressive music,” he notes, “but I wanted to filter that sound through a different emotional palette. It seemed like doing something counter to that noise would be somehow more punk. Since we started, though, we’ve moved away from that a little bit. We’re… um… less beachy.”

That kinder, gentler punk-rock philosophy is something Pearson and Barber share on a larger lifestyle scale. The two aren’t hippies (though they’re both vegans), but they’re fans of things like communal living, sharing food and smoke-free environments. And while they’re not shy when it comes to discussing their core values, Pearson claims she tries to keep her songwriting from getting too explicitly political. “I think those messages were more blatant early on, just ’cause we had a really punk influence. I definitely wrote a couple songs that were borderline preachy, and I’m actually really turned off by preachy songs. I know I have this position where people are listening to what I’m saying,” she continues, “but I realize you can teach people just as much through your actions.”