Press and Radio
Onion AV Club
Low: The Great Destroyer
Noel Murray
Like Stereolab, Belle And Sebastian, and other bands
that have built a fan base by exploring minute
variations on a singular sound, Minnesota slowcore
stalwart Low has persistently had to contemplate what
progress means. When the band stays the course, it
gets knocked for making albums that are essentially
indistinguishable. When it attempts significant
change, the old guard complains that something vital
has been sapped. Low's latest, The Great Destroyer,
has been touted as a "new Low," with producer Dave
Fridmann helping unleash the rock 'n' roll aggression
that's always rumbled beneath the surface of the
band's hushed, spare presentation. But Low has thrown
a few curves before, most notably with 2001's Things
We Lost In The Fire, which also offered a lusher and
more forceful Low. But where that album tried to push
the group forward by adding orchestration, The Great
Destroyer holds to its original sonic principles of
deep echo and empty spaces. Low just sounds louder and
fuller.
It's also fairly eclectic, at least on the surface.
The fuzzy pop of "California" and "Just Stand Back"
don't seem to have much in common with the dissonant
bang of "Everybody's Song" or the airy dreamscape of
"Silver Rider." Yet all four share a laconic tone and
an emphasis on twang that would make Neil Young proud,
and in making like a post-rock Crazy Horse, Low has
found new ways to eke dynamic moments out of lingering
notes: The chorus and coda of "On The Edge Of" is a
deliberate retreat to the extreme minimalism of Low's
seminal debut I Could Live In Hope, but since it comes
amid a four-minute storm of reverb, the step backward
sounds poignant. The Great Destroyer even continues
the tradition of long, droney Low songs with the
seven-minute "Broadway (So Many People)," a city
sketch that alternates loud vamping and eerie hush in
a way that suggests Low might be ready to take the
baton from the recently dissolved Luna. That would be
an okay career move, if Low wasn't already excelling
at being Low.
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