Low
London Spitz Club
16th February, 2007

View: from the right side

For the past few album releases, Duluth three-piece Low have made incremental changes to their trademark slo-core sound. New set Drums & Guns steers towards glitchy loops and electronic flourishes and is their most polarising statement yet. Tonight’s low-key warm-up lacks any electronic references, the new songs being stripped back to their basic elements, with no laptops or keyboards on stage. As a result, the material translates perfectly into the same framework as Low’s older songs. The new tunes include standouts like Sandinista, Dragonfly and Belarus – as beautiful and glacial as most of Low’s work. Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk’s harmony vocals are breathtaking, ramping up the intensity and volume. Sparhawk was also less prone to guitar-solo temper tantrums and, to keep the subdued faithful happy, we’re treated to Violence, Sunflower and the perfect closer, Will The Night.

Reviewed by Crawford Blair
<< Back to Issue 335

You might also like: