Low
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Formed in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1993, Low were perhaps the slowest of the so-called "slowcore" bands; delicate, austere, and hypnotic, the trio's music rarely rose above a whisper, divining its dramatic tension in the unsettling open spaces created by the absence of sound. The group initially won over listeners and critics with music that was dramatically spare and keenly focused on the dynamics of their performances; this era peaked with 1999's Secret Name and 2001's Things We Lost in the Fire. Once Low signed with Sub Pop Records, they embraced a fuller sound and a more diverse approach, including expanded instrumentation (2005's The Great Destroyer), pop-accented production (2011's C'mon), and experiments in discordant electronics (2018's Double Negative), with the harmonies of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker serving as their aural constants.
Initially comprising the husband-and-wife team of guitarist/vocalist Alan Sparhawk and drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker, along with bassist John Nichols, Low began as an experimental reaction to the predominance of grunge. Producer and Shimmy Disc Records founder Kramer soon invited the group to record at his Noise N.J. studios, and the resulting demos earned them a deal with the Virgin-distributed Vernon Yard label.
After reentering the studio with Kramer, Low emerged with their 1994 debut, I Could Live in Hope, a beautiful set spotlighting the trio's hauntingly minimal aesthetic -- even Parker's drum set consisted of only a snare and a hi-hat. Nichols exited the group prior to 1995's lovely Long Division, recorded with new bassist Zak Sally. A subsequent appearance on the Joy Division tribute A Means to an End was later expanded into the following year's Transmission EP, a five-track set also featuring a rendition of Supreme Dicks' "Jack Smith." With new producer Steve Fisk behind the boards, Low returned later in 1996 with The Curtain Hits the Cast. The Songs for a Dead Pilot EP followed in 1997 and marked Low's debut with their new label, Kranky, for whom they also released the critically acclaimed Secret Name in 1999. The late '90s also saw them issue Owl (Low Remixes) and the Christmas mini-album, which featured a cover of "Little Drummer Boy" that became a minor hit when it was featured in The Gap's holiday season commercials in 2000. 2000 also brought the release of The Exit Papers, a limited-edition instrumental EP Low described as "a soundtrack to an imaginary film."
The band's brilliant Things We Lost in the Fire arrived on Kranky in 2001, with the darker, more subdued Trust coming the following year. Two years later, the B-sides/rare tracks collection A Lifetime of Temporary Relief appeared on Low's own Chairkickers Music imprint. For their seventh full-length album, 2005's The Great Destroyer, Low moved to Sub Pop; the second leg of the group's tour in support of the album had to be canceled after Sparhawk announced he was in treatment for depression. By 2007 he was feeling well enough to return to work, and the group released its second LP for Sub Pop, the politically charged Drums and Guns; Sparhawk had also launched a side project, the Retribution Gospel Choir, whose debut album appeared in 2008.
Released in 2011, C'mon marked the debut of bassist Steve Garrington, while the band also stretched its boundaries by working with producer Matt Beckley, who had previously worked with mainstream pop acts such as Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne. In 2013, Low's 20th anniversary, the group released The Invisible Way, which featured production from Wilco's Jeff Tweedy. Low returned with a new studio album, Ones and Sixes, in September 2015, which the band produced in collaboration with recording engineer BJ Burton; Glenn Kotche of Wilco was a guest on the sessions. In 2016, Low reissued The Exit Papers, making the EP available on vinyl and as a digital download for the first time. Low returned to the studio with BJ Burton to record 2018's Double Negative, an unusually forceful and challenging album that found the trio experimenting with dissonant electronic backings and aggressively Auto-tuned vocals.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released September 14, 2018 | Sub Pop Records
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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
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Alternatif et Indé - Released March 19, 2013 | Sub Pop Records
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Rock - Released January 1, 1994 | Astralwerks
Like so many of their contemporaries, Low are repeatedly lumped into numerous derivative and nondescript headings intended to encompass slow-paced, instrument-driven music that maintains an indie aesthetic. Quite simply, no category can truly reveal the beauty and glory of Low's debut record I Could Live in Hope. Sad core? Not even close! I Could Live in Hope is an incredibly joyous journey of spirit and songwriting sensibility. The record remains patient and sparse throughout (just guitar, bass, high hat, and snare, and angelic vocals by the husband and wife team of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker), but succeeds beautifully. Low truly behold the gift of understatement.
Working with long-time producer and New York underground mainstay Kramer, Low examine their own fears and haunting experiences, occasionally linking them with Biblical references, while consoling listeners with warm layers of ethereal vocals and waves of guitar reverberation. Tracks are simple one-word titles but that's all that they require -- too much information would spoil the record's elegance. And that's probably why they open the record with "Words," a song about the overuse and misuse of language, that sets the tone for the entire album, right up to their plaintive and passionate cover of "You Are My Sunshine." Every small nuance of production is evident -- Sparhawk's fingers not quite connecting on a chord change or sliding over a fret and echoing infinitely -- making I Could Live in Hope a true testament to both Low and Kramer's penchant for capturing the lushest of soundscapes.
© Ken Taylor /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released September 11, 2015 | Sub Pop Records
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Alternatif et Indé - Released May 21, 2001 | In The Fishtank
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Rock - Released January 1, 1995 | Astralwerks
With the molasses-slow ringing of the opening chords of "Violence," Low arrived. The Duluth, Minnesota band had formed two years earlier in 1993, and issued its quietly joyful debut, I Could Live in Hope, in the interim, but sophomore record Long Division saw the band stripping down its already unprecedentedly spare instrumentation to create an atmosphere so lonely, patient, and narcotic that the album created the sensation of being awake in a sad-hearted dream. On their debut, Low's sound was informed by their minimal instrumentation, with guitar, high-register bass notes, and a two-piece drum kit providing the backdrop for Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's angelic harmonies and Kramer's spacious production. The songs on Long Division take that minimalism even further, slowing the tempos and implementing so much negative space that the instruments sometimes fade into complete silence in the space between sparse notes or drum hits. The otherworldly slowness of songs like "Shame" and "See-Through" are representative of the radical amount of space that defines the album, gliding gracefully as a falling leaf floating slowly on the wind. Low were born out of a reaction to the aggressive trudge of early-'90s grunge, so the songs are slow but never plodding. A song like "Turn" begins with a somewhat menacing lurch, but slowly blooms into a mysteriously hopeful climax. Contemporaries like Red House Painters and especially Codeine worked in similar muted colors and pensive tempos, but Low managed to exist outside of the often depressive themes of their peers. Practicing Mormons, Sparhawk and Parker often intoned their understated songs with vaguely religious undertones, hinting at retribution and redemption with foreboding atmospheres and heavy vibes more than overtly cautionary lyrics. The combination of Low's groundbreaking approach to elongating traditional pop music structures paired with Kramer's equally extreme reverb and Echoplex colorings congeal into one of Low's most brilliantly atmospheric statements, and perhaps the most dire in what would be a career that spanned decades. Long Division is a masterwork, somehow simultaneously achieving lushness and emptiness, embodying hope and heartbroken despair with equal force.
© Fred Thomas /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released January 1, 1996 | Astralwerks
The Curtain Hits the Cast was Low's first "major" album, taking the indie buzz over their early work to a much larger audience. The band didn't lose anything in the process -- the album shows them still firmly entrenched in the epic, slow, lazy dirges that got them started. The only noticeable changes come in the form of more elaborate production and a shift in the ratio of dark, creepy dirges to pretty, comforting ones (the latter winning out, as evidenced by the album's single, the beautiful "Over the Ocean"). Low is one of those rare bands that has created such a distinct musical world for itself that even major changes can't affect it -- just like every Cocteau Twins album is unmistakably theirs, and always good, listening to any Low recording involves revisiting a wonderful sound that can't be found anywhere else. The Curtain Hits the Cast is more accessible than much of the band's earlier work, but, since it's a Low album, it isn't really that much different -- the album is probably the best introduction to Low's work.
© Nitsuh Abebe /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released September 19, 2018 | Sub Pop Records
No one has ever listened to Low expecting boundless good cheer, but the dour beauty of their best work -- Secret Name, Things We Lost in the Fire, and Trust -- made something deeply rewarding out of the fragile sorrow of their spare melodies and Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's voices. However, the bigger and more sonically diverse sound of Low's two albums with producer Dave Fridmann, The Great Destroyer and Drums and Guns, tended to reinforce the increasingly dark and chaotic tone of the group's songwriting, and what once seemed quietly sad now seemed more than a bit troubling. So it's both surprising and reassuring that Low's ninth studio album, C'mon, is also the most hopeful music they've released in quite some time. With the lovely tranquility of the opening tune, "Try to Sleep," and the easy charm of "You See Everything" (which sounds like some lost gem of mid-‘70s soft rock), C'mon is as languid as ever for Low while at the same time suggesting these musicians are looking for some light at the end of the tunnel. C'mon was co-produced and mixed by Matt Beckley, who has previously worked with Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, and Vanessa Hudgens; he's an odd choice to work with Low, but thankfully, he's not afraid to let the album's darker and more contemplative songs sound as dramatic as they should, while adding just the right touch of polish on "Especially Me" and "Something's Turning Over," where the pop undercurrents that often run beneath Sparhawk and Parker's songs bob to the surface. (Beckley also does fine work with Sparhawk and Parker's vocals, which are in splendid form here.) C'mon, like Low's albums with Fridmann, stands apart from the stark minimalism of this band's earlier music, with a number of additional musicians contributing to the sessions (including Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and violinist Caitlin Moe), but this material more successfully adds dynamics and color to Low's melodies while retaining the power of their elemental approach. The dark clouds that have haunted Low are still clearly visible on "Witches" and "$20," but the slow, noisy build to the climax of "Nothing But Heart" is a testament to the very real heart and soul behind their music, and C'mon, while well short of sunny, is an album devoted to the search for answers amidst the darkness, and it's a powerful, deeply moving work from a truly singular band.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released January 1, 2000 | kranky
In their liner notes, Low hopes that their fans, "...will consider this our gift to you. Best wishes." Those who are already fans should be more than pleased with this little morsel. Throughout Christmas Low's trademark simplicity of instrumentation allows the listener to hear every nuance and crystalline detail. Beginning with "Just Like Christmas," we find the band at their poppiest with a drum sound and sleigh bells worthy of a restrained Phil Spector session. Mimi Parker's warm vibrato makes an irresistible mantra of the titular refrain. The album highlight "Blue Christmas" would have been doomed to a kitschy fate in most hands, but Mimi Parker's voice captures the broken-hearted melancholy of the original while eschewing any obvious Elvis references. The cover of "Silent Night" doesn't fare as well; the band fails to add anything of note to this holiday standard. Christmas also includes several songs that could alienate more secular listeners, especially "If You Were Born Today" which is chock-full of biblical references and paints an extremely despairing scenario on the fate of a contemporary Christ. Low does a rare thing in today's indie-rock milieu by refusing to survive on cynicism and worldliness alone. Whether or not one ascribes to their beliefs, the heartfelt and reverential beauty of their sound and lyrics are perfect for the holiday season. Christmas is a rich treat in a tiny package.
© Sanz Lashley /TiVo
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Rock - Released September 19, 2018 | Sub Pop Records
A stark retreat from the relatively sunny sound of The Great Destroyer, Drums and Guns is, as its title suggests, inspired by the war in Iraq. True to the spirit of Low's other work, the outrage and regret expressed by these songs is just as timeless as it is timely, lamenting that war still exists as much as it addresses this particular war. And, while Drums and Guns' emotions and lyrics are complex (and on songs like "Murderer," with its "seems like you could use another fool," they don't pull any punches), its sound is often devastatingly spare and simple. It's almost hard to believe that the band worked with David Fridmann on this album as well as The Great Destroyer -- where that album was lush and overflowing with sonic tangents, Drums and Guns' sound is raw and restricted to just a few key sounds that underscore its themes. Fittingly, most of the album emphasizes percussion; whether it's the martial-yet-jazzy beat that drives "Sandinista" or the somber, almost industrial thud of "Dragonfly," this approach keeps the songs intimate, powerful, and uniquely modern-sounding. Organ also plays a key role on Drums and Guns, particularly on "Breaker," where it magnifies the anguish of lyrics like "my hand just kills and kills," and "Violent Past," where its massive sound closes the album by swallowing the listener in a cathedral of distortion. Aside from this song and the similarly epic "In Silence," most of Drums and Guns is gently but insistently tense, like a nagging conscience: "Take Your Time"'s looped church bells and "Belarus"' ghostly harmonies are bleakly, uncompromisingly beautiful. Low lightens up a little on the album's middle stretch, with "Hatchet," a plea for peace that's surprisingly playful ("let's bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones"), and "Dust on the Window," where Mimi Parker's sweet voice sounds inherently comforting even as she wonders, "where can a girl get a meal?" Despite these bright spots, this is easily -- and understandably -- Low's darkest album since Trust. Unlike that album, however, Drums and Guns never feels dragged down by its weighty subject matter. It's a lean, potent work, and even if it's not one of Low's most superficially pleasant collections of songs, it's certainly among their most necessary ones.
© Heather Phares /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released September 19, 2018 | Sub Pop Records
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Pop - Released January 1, 1996 | Astralwerks
Duluth, Minnesota's \slowcore pioneers Low had been impressing live audiences with their slow as molasses cover of Joy Division's "Transmission" well before it was released on the largely unimpressive Joy Division tribute album, A Means to an End. Not content to let their version wither, the band put together this fine EP. "Transmission" is joined by some excellent songs unavailable elsewhere, including the brief but lovely "Bright," a darker version of the band's "Caroline" (called "Caroline 2"), and a cover of Supreme Dicks' "Jack Smith."
Transmission EP also marks a couple of firsts for Low. It was the first pairing of the band with producer Steve Albini, who would produce the band's best work, 1999's Secret Name. Another first was a hidden, untitled track that stretched the band into much more experimental territory that they would explore on 1997's Songs for a Dead Pilot.
© Josh Modell /TiVo
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Rock - Released November 8, 2005 | Sub Pop Records
Over the years, Low have been on labels as diverse as Kranky and Virgin offshoot Vernon Yard, worked with distinctive producers like Kramer and Steve Albini, and have managed to adapt their sound without losing any of their identity. All of this applies to Great Destroyer, the band's first album for Sub Pop and their first collaboration with producer Dave Fridmann. Fridmann's detailed sound is a far cry from either Kramer or Albini's minimalist tendencies, but his work here shows that Low can sound as good in elaborate settings as they do in simple ones: "Monkey"'s intricate layers of distorted drums, organ, and guitar have an unusual depth, and the synth strings and heartbeat-like electronic drums on "Cue the Strings" just add to the intimacy and subtlety of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's harmonies. Ironically enough, Great Destroyer is by far Low's most polished and accessible-sounding album, even more so than their quasi major-label output. That may turn off purists yearning for I Could Live in Hope's simplicity, but aside from the bigger sound, there's something for almost every kind of Low fan on the album: chilly, brooding songs ("Pissing," "Everybody's Song"), gentle but powerful songs ("On the Edge Of," "Silver Rider") and gorgeous epics ("Broadway (So Many People)"). The group's touted rock direction offers some of Great Destroyer's strongest, and weakest, moments. "California"'s soaring warmth has odd but appealing early- to mid-'90s alt pop sheen to it, sounding a bit like Girlfriend-era Matthew Sweet played at half speed. However, "Just Stand Back" and "Step" are somewhat clunky and contrived, with the production overwhelming the songs. The tracks about aging and acceptance -- a major theme on Great Destroyer -- feel much more genuine, particularly "When I Go Deaf," another of the band's bittersweet and slightly disturbing songs like "In Metal." "Death of a Salesman," a short, stripped-down tale of what's left behind with age, is also affecting; though an album full of songs like these might be too much, they're wonderfully intimate glimpses. "Walk Into the Sea" provides a relatively uplifting -- if not happy -- ending to this thoughtful, graceful album, but at this point, it's difficult to expect anything less from Low. ~ Heather Phares
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Alternatif et Indé - Released January 1, 2001 | kranky
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Alternatif et Indé - Released September 19, 2018 | Sub Pop Records
An institution of slowcore, one of indie rock's more bittersweet subsets, Low began making huge and haunted sounds out of the most minimal means in the early '90s. The Invisible Way finds the trio 20 years into its craft and returning to parts of its roots while at the same time branching into new sounds. The most noticeable shifts in the band's sound come with the production of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, working with the band for the first time here. While much of Low's work clung to a formula of reverb and echo that their earliest records took to extremes, the 11 songs here are roomy but not obscured by cavernous sounds. Instead, tracks like "Holy Ghost" and "Amethyst" glow with an earthy sheen, finding their spaciousness more in subtle touches of acoustic instruments and perfectly placed accents of guitar than post-production techniques. The songwriting here harks back somewhat to the understated pastoral majesty of early Low records like Long Division and The Curtain Hits the Cast, with the band creating mysterious and lush beauty by slowing down and lingering over long, thoughtful chord changes and glimmering harmonies. Following more aggressive sidesteps in the band's discography like 2005's The Great Destroyer and 2007's bleak and cacophonous Drums and Guns, the return to basics is refreshing, and the even more naked production is a perfect complement to the songs. Drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker sings lead on an unprecedented five songs on this album. Her layered harmonies, pristine but never brittle, make songs like "So Blue" and "Four Score" stand out, at once familiar to Low's melancholic grandeur but with a new confidence not heard before. Parker's sure-footed vocals anchor the Yo La Tengo-channeling upbeat push of standout track "Just Make It Stop," delivering desperate lines over hopeful melodic chord shifts. Guitarist/vocalist Alan Sparhawk continues his part of the band's evolution as well, offering quizzical and sometimes meandering lyrics for tracks like "Plastic Cup" and "Clarence White," both of which are epic in contrast to the single-line couplets that defined earlier Low albums. With its brilliant production values and carefully curated arrangements, The Invisible Way shows a band decades into making music but still in a very real state of evolution. While not quite a career-definitive statement, much like the aforementioned Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Belle & Sebastian, or any of the early-'90s bands still exploring their sound, Low give us a definitive chapter for where they are presently, and present it with more clarity and joy than we've heard from them in some time.
© Fred Thomas /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released September 30, 2016 | Temporary Residence Ltd.
Described by the band as "a soundtrack to an imaginary film," Low's 2000 release The Exit Papers is a work that's unusually low key and atmospheric, even by this band's very nuanced standards. Instrumental except for some wordless vocal passages, and often working without conventional melody or structure, The Exit Papers plays like an effort to push the boundaries of Low's experimental side, and the minimal melodic frameworks drifting over beds of ambient noise certainly take their traditional slowcore approach to a patiently unrelenting conclusion. The best moments in The Exit Papers work in the way much of Low's best music, creating an emotional pull from simple but evocative elements. However, "Untitled 4," which runs nearly 15 minutes, is a collage of feedback, distortion, and other guitar-based noises that goes on far too long for its own good. Going with the album's concept, perhaps it would have made more sense accompanying some long, tense scene in an offbeat independent thriller, but all by itself it's a lulling but poorly focused noise experiment that's not especially rewarding. The Exit Papers was originally released in a limited edition of 1,000 copies, distributed as part of a subscription program by Temporary Residence Records. This sort of release makes sense for this music; The Exit Papers isn't meant for the average music fan, or even for most of Low's usual audience. This is an experimental album intended for people with a passion for ambient noise, and while Low's Secret Name and Things We Lost in the Fire were beautiful and bold in their pursuit of the elegant detail, The Exit Papers suggests these musicians wandered off the path and had a hard time making their way back. Fans may be interested in hearing this remarkable group stake out new territory, but this is far from their best work. ~ Mark Deming
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Alternatif et Indé - Released January 1, 1997 | kranky
After Low left London's Vernon Yard label due to mutual financial pressures, the band members returned to their residence in Duluth, MN. There, they set up a studio in the basement of Allan Sparhawk (vocals and guitar) and Mimi Parker's (percussion and vocals) home and, along with bassist Zak Sally, set about recording Songs for a Dead Pilot. The album cover image of a stark, winter landscape is an appropriate visual match for the group's music. The mood on Songs is almost overwhelmingly somber and, like much of the band's music, often develops at a glacial pace. Bringing time to a crawl, the band exposes the silence and space in the music to great, occasionally thrilling effect. Low's drama is created in the gaps between guitar chords and snare hits. Engineering their own record allowed the members of Low the freedom to experiment. A washing machine was apparently employed for the low drum thud of "Be There." Deciphering the methods behind "Will the Night" is even more complicated; it would make a strong candidate for the most obscure opening album track. Heard as if from the other end of a tunnel, its melody is almost inaudible through a dense fog of echo. The song would reappear two years later on the Secret Name album, draped in a lush string arrangement that brought the band into new territory. "Born By the Wires," a song stripped to its bare bones, clocks in at over 13 minutes, although the body of the song takes place during the first five. Sparhawk sings in a fragile falsetto like a withdrawn child entertaining himself. The effect is chilling. Following this, the guitarist lapses into eight minutes of a repeated chord. While it seems to entrance the musician, it's the kind of aimless diversion few listeners will have the patience for. "Landlord" has a similar structure yet succeeds through slow, careful development. At its worst, Songs for a Dead Pilot is the sound of unsuccessful experiments on record. Repeated listening will only make its inconsistencies more apparent. However, the best songs ("Condescend," "Be There," and "Hey Chicago") provide the link between two of Low's best full-length recordings: the similarly constructed The Curtain Hits the Cast and the bolder Secret Name.
© Nathan Bush /TiVo
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Alternatif et Indé - Released January 1, 1999 | kranky
Secret Name is unadulterated lo-fi/sadcore, semi-orchestrated pop/rock par excellence. The power trio is augmented by a string section, tympani, and piano on this beautifully understated chamber pop outing by a misunderstood Midwestern band. Mimi Parker's voice is stunning on "Weight of Water," which at times sounds like it might take flight, but naturally, it never does -- and that's not a criticism. When Parker and Alan Sparhawk duet, as on "Missouri" or "Immune," the result is as chilling as anything Gram and Emmylou ever conspired on -- though that's not to say it's country-tinged, just straight from the heart. What Low do particularly well is stay grounded, close to the earth and real. The music is so warm it's a literal caress from the speakers -- and that's no mean feat in their notoriously chilly genre.
© Denise Sullivan /TiVo
