ECHO: A Survey at 25 Years of Sounds, Art and Ink on Paper
280 Pages
ISBN: # 979-8-21809624-3
Higher Ground
2023

In honor of Higher Ground's 25th anniversary, the South Burlington Vermont music venue has collaborated in the curation of ECHO: A Survey at 25 Years of Sounds, Art and Ink on Paper. Since founding the club in a strip mall in Winooski Vermont, HG's owners worked closely with Solidarity of Unbridled Labour and Iskra Print Collective to bring concert goers the unique experience of a free commemorative poster at the end of a show. Until now, none of these items were available for authorized purchase at merch stands or online.

The result of this partnership totaled 367 posters and, as presented in this tome, 280 pages of images are centered around Burlington's venerable independent music outlet and the artists that have populated its stages. It is crucial to point out, however, that it's not necessary to know the backstory here to savor the often vibrant artwork inside the hardboard covers.

ECHO is something of a work of art in and of itself, not to mention a history of Higher Ground (all of its shows prior to publication are delineated in miniscule font within foldouts af the front and back). By extension too, it's something of a history of contemporary music, albeit one filtered through the preferences and taste of the curators involved at the creation of the posters.

In that regard, it's confounding there are no pieces to commemorate some of the most memorable events. For instance, nothing appears to mark any of the multiple appearances of