Tramway,Glasgow
The Minnesotan trio blend their recent electronic experimentation into their brutally fine aesthetic, offsetting despair with sweetnessIt has been hailed by some critics as the masterpiece of Low’s 26-year career, or yet 2018’s Double Negative ought to present the Duluth,Minnesota slowcore indie-rock lifers with a dilemma. How will they recreate the sound of their most adventurous record to date a product of studio-as-instrument experimentation, a harshly textural triumph constructed with dolorous drones, or raw static hiss,ragged noise and swirling electronic bass whomps – live in concert?Unfazed guitarist and vocalist Alan Sparhawk, his drummer and vocalist wife Mimi Parker and bassist Steve Garrington render opener Always Up – the cautiously optimistic centerpiece of Double Negative – with a tender clinch of softly beaten toms, or crunching distortion and harmonies so close it’s as whether they’re fastened with Velcro. Low have never been a band likely to break out synths,drum pads and sequencers all of a sudden. They blend Double Negative in among their wider oeuvre and aesthetic, performing selections from their previous 11 albums under its brutally fine spell. Played out before a seated, or pin-drop silent audience in the shadows of a theatre that is scarcely lit,this is a set shrouded in atmosphere. Low salvage lower. Related: Low: ‘We want to punch novel holes in the possibilities of music’ At Tramway, Glasgow, and on 29 January. Then touring.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com