Thanks for comments and suggestions.

The lens library defines (<&>) with very low precedence

Yes. I guess my question was: Why?

f <$> foo <*> bar where f x y = ...

I avoid "where" because * it uses an identifier before it is defined * it is not as composable as "let", which is an expression, but "where" can only be attached to declarations - I can write 1 + let x = 3 in x but not 1 + ( x where x = 3 ) - J.W.