Double Negative

Album review

Brilliantly melancholic, the trio of jolly depressives, Low, celebrate 25 years of musical therapy with their album Double Negative released by Sub Pop. 1,000% slow core, the album is a gradual and delicate suction towards the abyss. With the help of BJ Burton, Bon Iver’s producer, Low reveal a very mysterious bit of work, just like an original David Lynch band. The first track, Quorum, sets the tone with some heavy, crackling waves of sound. Double Negative is dark but above all it looks to create a unique sensory experience. Between the almost scary drums and atmospheric vocals, Low trap their prey in a sublime hypnosis.

 Once under the spell Double Negative’s charm begins to work. Alan Sparhawk’s lyrics finally begin to take form on the track Fly. The singer takes five minutes in order to stabilize the state of his listeners. Moving at this rate, Low can finally manipulate their listeners in every sense. The robotic voice in Tempest and the vocal harmonies of Always Up provoke a feeling of weightlessness which leaves the listener imagining cosmic landscapes. When the synth, the vocoder, Garrington’s bass and Parker’s drums are not present the group uses telluric (earth like) sounds which almost warn of the pending apocalypse, like on the track The Son, the Sun. Terribly amazing, Double Negative goes from metamorphosis to metamorphosis, without ever revealing if the end will be prosperous or tragic. © Anna Coluthe/Qobuz