Press and Radio
Artist Low
Title Drums And Guns
Label Sub Pop
Play Louder review
Published: April 2007
Low have always had a propensity for hooking the listener into their
reductionist rock soundworld with a beguiling and portentous opening
line. Things We Lost In The Fire began with "When they first found
your body / Giant X's on your eyes," while latest long-player Drums And
Guns' goes one better, eschewing the impressionistic for the more direct
"All the soilders / They're all gonna die. All the little babies /
they're all gonna die." As the guitar hums ominously and Mimi Parker's
percussion pounds away you know this isn't going to be the
bleeding-heart obviousness of Uncle Wayne Coyne's Optimistic Philosophy
Glitterball.
What's also very striking about this record is Low's return to their
original slowcore dynamic after the faster and louder Trust and The
Great Destroyer. In fact Guns and Drums make these pair of releases
seem like mere dabbling such is it's pointillist power.
However this is no mere regression into a tried and tested formula for
the Duluth trio. Each of these tracks is more than their trademark
guitar, bass, drum soundscapes with delicate vocals hovering above the
mix. True, the template is here, but the songs are augmented with
elements of electronica, a presence that's never contrived or feels like
an obvious signifier for a new direction. The bells and whistles - or in
this case loops and drum machines - are never mere frippery.
The electronic elements should come as little surprise to ardent Low
fans (they've previously collaborated with Spring Heel Jack and released
remix album OWL) but what raises the eyebrows is how easily these
elements serve as contrast and respite from those amazing two-part
harmonies. And what of those harmonies? Well, they're as faultless,
haunting and infectious as ever despite the dark lyrical concerns of
aggression and conflict.
Even David Fridmann, a man synonymous with syrupy and lush production,
is almost a sylph here, as though his footprint has been eroded by the
stark triumph of Low's opus.
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