With Belgium’s upcoming 2023 Dour Festival, we spoke to High Hi’s Anne-Sophie Ooghe about their show on 13 July. The group has big ambitions, and the festival serves as a kickoff for new developments. Read on to see what she has to say about how they’re evolving. If you’re not able to catch them at Dour, they’re touring around Belgium and Netherlands. You can find dates at the end.
Their first time playing Dour, Antwerp-based High Hi have been working the local scene since being nominated for Studio Brussels’ Die Nieuwe Lichting in 2014 as well as Humo’s Rock Rally. In the time following this, they participated in Eurosonic during the pandemic in 2021, and performed at Pukkelpop.
Ahead of the festival, they opened for M83 on 2 and 3 July 2023 in France and Luxembourg. While the group receives a lot of opportunities in Belgium, including a residency at Trix, lead singer Anne-Sophie wants to push the band internationally. Even within the trilingual nation, she mentions only playing twice in the French-speaking part.
In addition to the short tour mentioned, and performance at Dour, High Hi is working on new material. As a follow up to their 2022 “Return to Dust,” LP they’re expanding their sound further. Anne-Sophie describes herself as a self-taught artist who got started on acoustic guitar, later switching to electric guitar.
In terms of their overall aesthetic, High Hi takes a lot of input from within the group. Anne-Sophie cites the drummer as providing a lot of input, while also experimenting with pedal boards. For longterm fans, there was a noticeable shift from 2017’s “Hinderance” to 2020’s “Firepool.” This is due to the producer of the second album, Daan Schepers, pushing for a more electronic sound.
High Hi on Tour
- 22 Jul, Waterpop (NL)
- 22 Jul, Rock Olmen (BE)
- 28 Jul, Kerkstraat Plage (BE)
- 04 Aug, Zeverrock (BE)
- 05 Aug, Suikerrock (BE)
- 11 Aug, Rijversfestival (BE)
- 26 Aug, TRAX Festival (BE)
- 27 Aug, Funky Town Festival (BE)
- 15 Sep, Geruis – CC Belgica (BE)
- 16 Sep, Repmondrock (BE)
- 22 Sep, RE:Lict (BE)
- 05 Oct, Nieuwe Nor (NL)