I see more UK & European dates have been added to the tour for the new year, including a Glasgow gig in January. Yay!
― brain (krakow), Monday, 10 September 2018 08:53 (six years ago) link
This is amazing. The way they alter abrasive, sound sculpture pieces with their spiritual, harmonic tunes is absolutely breathtaking. There is a lot to bite on here.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 10 September 2018 21:30 (six years ago) link
longtime Low-ambivalent human here to say: what the FUCK
― alpine static, Monday, 10 September 2018 22:47 (six years ago) link
what the FUCK
otm
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 10 September 2018 22:48 (six years ago) link
I don't know why people are so surprised by this, since they've experimented with drone/noise/electronic elements plenty before. Not always on their albums, I suppose.
I really want to love the album but it hasn't really clicked for me yet, hoping I just need to hear it in the right context. Mimi does sound amazing on the ones where she's singing lead.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 10 September 2018 23:03 (six years ago) link
Yeah, I also feel like this album is a logical extension of some of the ideas they were pursuing on Ones and Sixes, which I also thought was a super-strong album.
I'm surprised by the notion that people who have long been ambivalent about Low would suddenly be won over by this album - it strikes me as standing in relation to their prior work in much the same way as the new Jon Hassell album does to his (Hassell is also a good answer for "who pulls this kind of trick some 12 albums or more into his career?") - an invigorating incorporation of new elements to expand the existing blueprint rather than replace it wholesale.
― Tim F, Monday, 10 September 2018 23:37 (six years ago) link
fwiw, i'm not saying i'm won over, although being ambivalent and then maybe not ambivalent might imply as much.
i'm not even sure i'm won over yet. this is more my experience:
i know the last album i heard from low was ten years ago, but i wasn't expecting this at all. i'm mesmerized.― Nourry, Thursday, July 5, 2018 2:31 AM (two months ago)
― Nourry, Thursday, July 5, 2018 2:31 AM (two months ago)
basically i'm saying: "I listened to Curtain and Lost in the Fire and Great Destroyer several times each and thought I knew what Low was but this album is not what I thought Low was"
― alpine static, Monday, 10 September 2018 23:48 (six years ago) link
The only thing I don't like about this album is that it makes Ones and Sixes retroactively sound like a tentative, tame attempt at what this album is up to.
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Monday, 10 September 2018 23:53 (six years ago) link
― alpine static, Monday, September 10, 2018 11:48 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah that's fair - this album makes more sense in the context of Drums and Guns and Ones and Sixes and some stuff they put on EPs over the years.
― Tim F, Monday, 10 September 2018 23:58 (six years ago) link
i only heard 'ones and sixes' after 'double negative' and now i get where this is coming from. but i'm still mesmerized. and it is possibly my favourite record of the year so far (with the new jon hassell and opn's age of). i'm kinda of ashamed that in the last years i stopped paying much attention to their records. such a stupid "decision".in the end of the month i plan seeing them live (the last time I saw them was in 2007!).
― Nourry, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 00:12 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRoIbBbJx4U
Best thing they've done since 'Drums & Guns' and the 'Bombscare' EP 18 (!) years ago.
― Soundslike, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 00:33 (six years ago) link
I'm surprised by the notion that people who have long been ambivalent about Low would suddenly be won over by this album - it strikes me as standing in relation to their prior work in much the same way as the new Jon Hassell album does to his (Hassell is also a good answer for "who pulls this kind of trick some 12 albums or more into his career?")
Since I made that comment, I'll answer. I was a consistent listener up to The Great Destroyer, but outside of the occasional "Drone Not Drones" show I've been one of the ambivalent - dutifully listening to each new album since, but never making a deep enough connection to keep coming back. Maybe I wanted them to go further?
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 02:58 (six years ago) link
Forgotten but great track - "Half Light" from the Mothman Prophecies soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY-LaFHAfQc
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 02:59 (six years ago) link
I'll be the first to admit I didn't pay close attention to the last two, but this new one is so incredible it makes me think either a) I should have listened closer or b) they were indeed forgettable, because I doubt they were as memorable/amazing as this one. Getting ... Depeche Mode vibes here?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 13:46 (six years ago) link
ones and sixes is an awesome record
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 13:48 (six years ago) link
Other vibes I'm getting from the new one is ... Fennesz? I also suspect this might be the best, prettiest album my family might make me turn off.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 13:52 (six years ago) link
Or, like, Wolfgang Voigt?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 13:56 (six years ago) link
The new record, and especially the way it starts off, reminds me of Microphones' Mt. Eerie record. Crawling from out of the rubble and noise to find a pitch-perfect, pastoral and awe-inspiring beauty in quietness and precision. It's everything and more you could want from Low.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 13:57 (six years ago) link
xxp you should've been listening closer imo. what's so remarkable to me about this album is that it manages to be top 3 in a band with consistently excellent output
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 15:43 (six years ago) link
I was a consistent listener up to The Great Destroyer, but outside of the occasional "Drone Not Drones" show I've been one of the ambivalent - dutifully listening to each new album since, but never making a deep enough connection to keep coming back. Maybe I wanted them to go further?
I admit this is kinda where I've been at, and ever since the leak earlier this year the sheer avalanche of praise has kicked in my...I will never call it 'contrarian,' but simply my 'okay, I'm sure it's great so that actually means I can wait to get around to this' reflex. (Which has kept my sanity more than once over the years -- rather than rushing into something which I'm sure I'll like I'd rather get to it when the impulse strikes.) That said everyone mentioning about how it suits the current sociopolitical situation has left me even more guarded; I specifically avoided ANOHNI's album the other year for that reason, but unlike ANOHNI I geniunely like Low's music and have from the get-go so I'll approach this a little more warmly. Still, though.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 15:49 (six years ago) link
enh I think the "this is the Low album about Our Moment!!" or whatever argument doesn't hold up at all
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 15:57 (six years ago) link
the sonics are more blwon-out but it's no more emotionally fraught than say Trust
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 15:59 (six years ago) link
That said everyone mentioning about how it suits the current sociopolitical situation has left me even more guarded
these people are wrong
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 15:59 (six years ago) link
Good to know!
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:00 (six years ago) link
i compared it to twin peaks season 3 the other day (a stupid comparison but one i can't get out of my head) which can either be read as "of the moment" or not, but the former is prob the least interesting lens through which to view it
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:01 (six years ago) link
i guess one could make the argument that the sonics reflect the sociopolitical feeling of the moment. but that could really be said about most music
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:06 (six years ago) link
I think the "this is the Low album about Our Moment!!" or whatever argument doesn't hold up at all
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:08 (six years ago) link
actually thinking about it now, drums & guns was an 'of the moment' album too in the wake of 9/11. that's also their best album
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:15 (six years ago) link
i compared it to twin peaks season 3 the other day (a stupid comparison but one i can't get out of my head) which can either be read as "of the moment" or not, but the former is prob the least interesting lens through which to view it― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, September 11, 2018 5:01 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, September 11, 2018 5:01 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i guess 'the tempest' would be episode 8?stupidly, when i hear the album i can only think about paul schrader's first reformed.
― Nourry, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link
the oppressive atmosphere this album transmits is one which seems to me be very much of the moment
I guess cause sonics aside it's so much of a piece with every Low album since the debut? Idk I find their music has such a timeless, totemic quality that I hesitate to forge associations like that. (Then again I'm also hesitant to see the current political moment as being totally distinct from what came before, so...)
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:44 (six years ago) link
(Then again I'm also hesitant to see the current political moment as being totally distinct from what came before, so...)
yeah this is mostly it in general
― lowercase (eric), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 16:49 (six years ago) link
Then again I'm also hesitant to see the current political moment as being totally distinct from what came before, so...
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 17:28 (six years ago) link
not really, maybe, yes, sure. but these are all things that built up over decades anyway
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 17:40 (six years ago) link
and don't seem to have much to do with the new low album unless you're projecting hard onto it
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 17:41 (six years ago) link
which is honestly fine
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 17:42 (six years ago) link
what brad said
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 18:50 (six years ago) link
Can the Low experts talk about other precursors to this album in their discography that more casual fans might've missed (hinted at by a couple of people earlier)?
― Jouster, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:24 (six years ago) link
ones and sixes, drums and guns, bombscare
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:25 (six years ago) link
btw thanks elvis for posting "half light" upthread, a version of low i had never heard before
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:26 (six years ago) link
it reminds me of "down by the water" kinda
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:28 (six years ago) link
they have so many great odds and ends, I hope one day they make a worthy rarities/loosies comp (too much of A Lifetime of Temporary Relief is inessential)
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:35 (six years ago) link
Also the Drones Not Drones thing people have mentioned: https://drone-not-drones.bandcamp.com/track/low-2
And some of the Retribution Gospel Choir stuff (esp. earlier on).
xp
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 19:57 (six years ago) link
wow this is gorgeous. i'm feeling them after not listening for a long time.
― macropuente (map), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 20:50 (six years ago) link
is this thing even out or are all you hosers just listening to the low bitrate NPR stream
― ||||||||, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 20:54 (six years ago) link
i'm just listening to a few tracks on bandcamp
― macropuente (map), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 20:56 (six years ago) link
low bitrate NPR stream here
― alpine static, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 21:19 (six years ago) link
out on friday. will be buying.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 21:24 (six years ago) link
NPR stream. I haven't listened to their albums since Trust but this seems markedly different from what they were doing before then? There were some noise/drone elements at times but they always struck me as somewhat peripheral to the sound of what was a m/l soft pop/rock band.
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 21:42 (six years ago) link
yeah it's not like it's really that abrasive, it has a very soft sound imo, richly produced classic rock vibes, harmonies more slick than i remembered
― macropuente (map), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 21:47 (six years ago) link
i didn't really catch all that many of the lyrics but i still got this feeling that they somehow seem more honest and less portentous, idk.
― macropuente (map), Tuesday, 11 September 2018 21:49 (six years ago) link