Labels: Rough Trade
Review by: Alex Deller
A friend once said this to me: “I left my house on my way to school, and it was raining. I put a Low tape into my walkman, and as it started to play, the sun came out.” You see, Low are the kind of band that can do that.
As with previous releases, there’s been a steady and subtle change of character as the band have solidered on, the songs, shorn of Albini’s stark production, sound fuller and warmer than before despite the same deep-rooted mournfulness as ever before. Alan and Mimi’s voices seem capable of breaking hearts and then stitching them back together, merging as one while guitars chime and jangle, drums echo like the last heart left beating and Zak’s basslines throb subtly in the backgriound, lovingly cradling the whole fragile spectacle. True, songs like the standout ‘Canada’ are the poppiest the band have recorded to date, but this is still very much the same old Low: troubled, lost and yet very, very beautiful.