Press and Radio
Artist Low
Title Drums And Guns
Label Sub Pop
Chicago Sun-Times
By Jim DeRogatis
Rating: 3.5 stars
Published: 18 March 2007
STATE OF THE WORLD SPURS LOW TO ONE OF ITS ALL-TIME HIGHS
I'm always surprised that Low, the other long-running indie-rock trio fronted by a married couple on guitar and drums, isn't accorded anywhere near the reverence shown for Yo La Tengo. Guitarist-vocalist Alan Sparhawk and his wife, drummer-vocalist Mimi Parker, have consistently made strong records since 1994 (this is their 10th album), successfully incorporating as many different twists and turns in their basic "slowcore" take on the Velvet Underground as Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have with their slightly more upbeat homage. This time, Low delivers its biggest surprise ever.
Writing amid the already gray and foreboding surroundings of their native Duluth, Minn., Sparhawk and Parker are even more depressed than usual as they survey the violent and ominous state of the world circa 2007, with war ever-looming in the background. "Cut free the weight on your neck / The screams, the clutching of breasts / So sorry 'bout the mess," the two harmonize on "Always Fade." Believe it or not, that's actually one of the more upbeat tunes -- at least there's hint of redemption in the choruses ("Some day you'll change / But you'll always fade").
If the bleak lyrics have always been a staple, Low's music has never stopped changing and evolving. A while back, Chicagoan Steve Albini helped the trio turn up the volume, most notably with Things We Lost in the Fire (2001). Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Sleater-Kinney) continued in that direction with The Great Destroyer (2005). But on the follow-up, he guides Low in immersing itself in grating, frightening, sometimes discordant and arrhythmic sounds influenced by the electronic terrorism of the Aphex Twin and the much-heralded "post-rock" of Chicago's Tortoise.
The combination of these artificial, otherworldly sounds with the beautiful and organic vocals makes for one of the most
jarring but ultimately best albums of Low's career. Take that, Yo La.
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