Do You Know How to POLLtz?: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low

Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?

my plan for voting in this poll is to do it on the last eligible day so i'm forced to rely on gut instinct

as for early vs. recent low: i couldn't possibly say i prefer one over the other - the earlier stuff has the advantage of time obv but i find what they're doing now really exciting in its own way. "do you know how to waltz?" and "dancing and blood" both fucked my entire world up, for different reasons

Invisible Way will not make my top ten ballot, and most likely nothing from it will make my tracks ballot either ("Plastic Cup" still technically in contention as I work to slim down my long-list). But I will say, the album did rise in my estimation after listening to everything this week. It's by far their most modest album. Feels like a purposeful lack of ambition - no grandiosity, no edgy darkness. Just some nice songs. But in that way it's unique in the catalog and if that was their intent then it's a nice little record.

might be ridiculous but i believe i'm voting for "so blue"

Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?

Where should we go: Canada, California, Belarus, or Missouri? Or into a snowstorm, forest or the ocean?

Forest > Ocean > Canada > snowstorm > California > Belarus >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Missouri

The Lifetime of Temporary Relief has way too many gems on it. More Low in the Misfits versions!

i haven't listened to the new one because of the press release photos topless in dungarees

My list will be likely as early-centric as Table's (maybe not quite as much) but there will certainly be a high placing for Nothing But Heart, and another from C'Mon.

I was late in hearing a lot of these 00's and 10's albums, more than once but know my favourite tunes, I think by keeping seeing them live.

I have two from Drums & Guns on my list of 36 tracks— "Murderer" and "Take Your Time," the latter because I think it's the Low song that disturbs me the most.

Think I've got my 30 tracks sorted, very heavy on the two records that were my introduction to the band but nearly all of the others are represented. On the other hand, doing an albums ballot is proving much harder than I expected - going through the catalogue has thrown up some surprises, e.g. The Great Destroyer is much better than I remembered.

weird, I had no idea “Don’t Carry It All” was a vinyl-only addition to Things We Lost in the Fire. One of my favorites on that release.

Low is one of those bands where, whichever was your first album, that's probably your favorite.

“Don’t Carry It All” is also on the Lifetime of Temporary Relief collection - didn't know it was supposed to be on Things We Lost. Great tune.

Ones & Sixes is better than the two previous obv, also better than The Great Destroyer, possibly even with Trust, what does that make it (checking) joint 9th best album of theirs? And still AMAZING? Yeah, no way I can make a ballot for this. IF I DID it would be Lullaby (yon version from the box) first, then Murderer (which I first heard on the 10" but basically I'm easy), then I'd have to delve deeper and that would accelerate my heart too much. was Venus really never on an album? That 7" and the Secret Name CD was my entry. The Best Family Christmas Ever (cus cmon Christmas with family is always terrible) was when I gifted 5 people in the same room the Christmas EP, I had to go to both record shops to acquire all that, worth it (I'm guessing max 2 of them ever played it)

Decided not to obsess too much and just sent in my ballot

Voted, finally. Really don't know what to expect from the rollout.

fuuuuuuck I'm vacationing and won't have time to give this a proper evaluation. Curses

Low is one of those bands where, whichever was your first album, that's probably your favorite.

― Hideous Lump, Friday, November 5, 2021 4:50 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

My entry was Trust, then I got Things We Lost, and then a friend gave me a burnt copy of Curtain, and it changed everything I felt about the band...Trust is still 2nd for me after Curtain, but I think Things We Lost is closer to five or six for me.

One thing that's weird here is that I don't have problems selecting favorite albums, but tracks is proving absolutely agonizing.

Any chance we can go to top 50 tracks?

I'm realizing, as much as there are dozens and dozens of tracks I love, I still tend to think of Low mainly in terms of albums--or maybe even, in terms of eras of albums... Which I guess really means I love nearly everything, except for the dip from 2008-2017...

In particular, I'm finding that the 'experimental' albums are in many ways my favorites--'Bombscare' EP, 'Drums & Guns,' 'Double Negative'--but I think of them as a piece and don't necessarily register individual songs as strongly as on their more "traditional" work...

I have a feeling the bulk of my tracks list is going to disappear into the ether of the unranked...

Xpost, top 50 tracks would be great if pollrunner has time.

i can allow 50 track ballots if there's real demand for it - i went with 30 as it seemed like the highest to go that most people would be likely to fill out in full. it's not any extra work for me to tabulate.

I'm for it. it's been painful to see some amazing songs fall under the top 30 line

Would absolutely change this poll for me.

I still have Long Division and Drums and Guns to listen to (and I haven't even started the EPs).
So far, the most pleasant surprises in terms of albums were The Great Destroyer and Ones and Sixes. The Curtain hits the cast, Things we lost in the fire and Trust lived up to their reputation.
Secret Name was a low point, and so was C'mon. I'm not necessarily planning to listen to The Invisible Way.

I can find 30 tracks to vote for, 50 would be too big a portion of their discography for a non-obsessive listener. I expect to vote about equally from their three (four ?) different periods.

"disarray" is maybe my least favourite on double negative, i'm not really a fan of how restrained it is with that constant staccato pattern & it's weird as the album closer, all tension reaching out for release that never arrives. but wow it's great live, so much better. they actually let loose & let the vocal melody soar like it wants to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-QXr41WFgA

"disarray" at 1:24:33

oh come on, ones and sixes is an amazing record

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 12:31 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

justice for ones and sixes, still the best of the last three low records

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, 5 November 2021 12:32 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i like ones and sixes a lot but it's not top tier low & falls off in the middle - the first three & last three tracks are all pretty great but the rest isn't as strong. no way is it better than the two since.

could definitely make the case that ones and sixes/double negative/hey what is their best three-album run on the other hand

― ufo, Friday, 5 November 2021 12:39 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

the adjustment in textural focuses between tracks is painstakingly tuned on o&s, and the songs feel like they're written to emphasize that? which helps make it feel bigger-than-the-sum, regardless of opinion about the individual songs

― ri, Friday, 5 November 2021 13:19 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglinko

Somehow I agree with all of these posts?

The thing about Ones and Sixes is that while it's true that the opening and closing stretches are stronger than the middle, I look at the tracklisting and everything jumps out at me as being distinct and different - and also very hooky: despite the great lengths they go to not present it as such, this is actually maybe their most pop album, yeah even more than C'mon.

Also I think people overstate the extent to which it's a palette cleanser for the most recent two albums, perhaps because of the presence of the same producer. Ones and Sixes's sonic experiments feel to me more like revisiting and expanding on various particular ideas they'd played with in the past, from Spector-ish touches to keyboards, but doing so in the context of a relatively 'normal' collection of songs (which, alongside its diversity, is what makes it distinct from Drums and Guns which it might otherwise resemble, but also from Bombscare, let alone the following two albums).

I was interested to go back to Double Negative after not listening to it for a while. I was wondering if its experiments would feel at once self-conscious and redundant after Hey What anchored the same overall sound within generally more coherent songs. But no, its bruised quality is still so powerful. Listening to it I switched to thinking "maybe Hey What will now sound lesser when I put it on". Of course I then tried that, and it really brought out the satisfying immediacy and present-ness of the sound on Hey What, which I now somewhat associate with The Great Destroyer.

Like, the band who just made "More" is definitely the band who made "Everybody's Song".

i'd put both the great destroyer & c'mon as more 'pop' than ones and sixes, but it's certainly up there yeah. then things we lost in the fire in at fourth.

my impression from interviews is that double negative was (fairly unusually for them) mostly written in the studio as they were experimenting with the new sound palette they'd discovered, while hey what was a return to the drums and guns methodology of having a lot of songs written beforehand with the intention of totally deconstructing them in the studio.

but even though double negative takes a different approach with its songwriting it's still very melodically direct. it's like a whole album based on the chorus of "over the ocean"

I'm not necessarily planning to listen to The Invisible Way.

Doesn't it have an amazing Yacht Rock track near the end?

(Like many others e.g. table I sort of got off the bus at C'mon so am less familiar with the later stuff)

Doesn't it have an amazing Yacht Rock track near the end?

Isn't Gerry Beckley from America on a couple of their albums?

Nabozo, what about Secret Name don't you like? "Two-Step"? "Weight of Water"? "Starfire"? "Will the Night?"?

I dunno, I love that record.

I listened to Secret Name, Things We Lost In the Fire, and The Curtain Hits the Cast this afternoon, and I think I figured out why I never revisit anything earlier than Trust. They're quiet and mopey, but the punch to the gut is more subtle. Trust and onward tend to be more obviously sinister musically.

I have a ballot of 17 songs right now, and I'll probably rank ten albums pretty easily, but I've never really listened to any of their covers so I'll probably sit that one out.

Oh, and everyone knows they rereleased The Exit Papers on vinyl, right? I think there are still copies left on their Bandcamp.

8 copies left: https://lowtheband.bandcamp.com/album/the-exit-papers

Mopey ffs. Condescend for example is fire and hard as nails. Heavy shit.

Do You Know How To Waltz is crushing.

I listened to Secret Name, Things We Lost In the Fire, and The Curtain Hits the Cast this afternoon, and I think I figured out why I never revisit anything earlier than Trust. They're quiet and mopey, but the punch to the gut is more subtle. Trust and onward tend to be more obviously sinister musically.

I'd argue that their lyrics are just as sinister, if not more sinister, on the early records, though the music is certainly less so.

The early stuff works best as albums to me. Everything from Secret Name on feels like a scattershot collection of songs with 3-4 highlights. I like them all, but they don't make for the most cohesive listening experiences (the most recent two are better in this regard). Like Trust is song for song one of their strongest albums, but it's excruciating to listen to straight through.

Ranked Curtain and Dead Pilot high, but I'm having trouble finding songs from them to put on my ballot. Whereas Things We Lost in the Fire isn't one of their better albums to me, but I can easily pick 4-5 songs from it.

Ranked Curtain and Dead Pilot high, but I'm having trouble finding songs from them to put on my ballot

One thing this poll has clarified for me is just how highly I rate "Stars Gone Out"

All I know is that this band is responsible for a disproportionate number of songs and albums that, while I'm listening to them, make me say to myself , this is the best music ever made.

Nabozo, what about Secret Name don't you like? "Two-Step"? "Weight of Water"? "Starfire"? "Will the Night?"?

I dunno, I love that record.

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Monday, 8 November 2021 20:28 (two hours ago) link

Secret Name strikes me as the album which is maybe hardest to pin down. On the one hand - perhaps even more than Things We Lost - it feels like it contains a lot of the seeds of future directions the band would explore, and it's a very diverse record. On the other, "Don't Understand" (and maybe "Home") aside, it feels like their warmest and gentlest and (at least at times) perhaps deliberately-smallest record until The Invisible Way (which to me feels like it contains a few callbacks).

Meanwhile the vocals are often quite startling, in particular Alan's frequent use of high falsetto.

"i remember" is in line with the darker sound of "don't understand" and "home", but then there's things like "starfire" which feels more directly indebted to galaxie 500 than anything they'd done before

Yep - agree with that.

trust is kinda the mirror image of secret name, they both capture a fairly similar (though also quite wide) range of styles, but trust ends up emphasising the darker sounds over secret name's preference for the light

my favourite from those first six albums is certainly the curtain hits the cast, which keeps the darkness consistently at 'dim campfire in the night' levels

Secret Name (and Songs for a Dead Pilot) is the big pivot point for the band - the one where they figured out how to free themselves from their own sound without sacrificing their perspective. It’s still “Low” but they stopped being pristine. The production is raw, Alan becomes a much more courageous singer, and Mimi allows a few cracks to show in her otherwise flawless voice. And they push the limits on what they’re “supposed” to sound like (Don’t Understand).

They made many records that are better but Secret Name feels in a way like their most important album— they learned how to transcend themselves.

This bit from the end of glenn mcdonald's review of Things We Lost... reads as very prescient now:

"They aren't the first band to make the long journey from isolationism to expansiveness, and they haven't traveled as far as Mark Hollis (surely the name "Hollis" is a coincidence?), but in both relative magnitude and unexpectedness, Low and Talk Talk's journeys seem comparable to me, demonstrations of the inexorable power of an artist's patience, and the profound rewards for a listener's. Secret Name seemed like an end-point, and then Christmas seemed like an epilogue, but now I'm not so sure. After Things We Lost in the Fire, it all feels like part of one long story to me again, and one that is far from over.

And therein, maybe, is the explanation I was looking for, for how I feel while I listen to it, half thinking I have more than enough information to make up my mind, half thinking that I'm missing something critical. On one hand, if Alan and Mimi decided to quit music now and raise Hollis as organic farmers or innkeepers or border guards, I think they've done enough to secure their place. Many have lived forever on less. On the other hand, though, if there was this much immanent in Secret Name that they didn't yet know how to express, then it's insane to think that Things We Lost in the Fire is the end, either. If the distance from I Could Live in Hope to Things We Lost in the Fire isn't as great as the distance from Talk Talk to Mark Hollis, maybe that only means Low are that far from done. And if that's so, or that's what it feels more true to believe, then maybe the uncertainty I'm experiencing is my instinctive respect for incompletion. You don't clap in the middle of a song, just because you like the first half so much. So Low aren't one of my favorite bands yet, not because I don't believe they will be, but because what these records have earned from me isn't capitulation or acclaim, it's presence. No banners yet. Parades? Maybe when Hollis is older. For now, just pay attention. If you want to give them a gift, give them more silence to fill. There's nobody into whose care I'd rather silence be entrusted."

But what I had in fact been looking for was the following extract from his Secret Name review which I think gets at the point being made about the album above:

"Trying to convey the experience by describing it is inherently hopeless, of course. Low has spent six albums retreating, and I've followed them, getting closer and closer because it was the only way to hear them at all, and from farther away Secret Name's explosion of noise would probably barely sound like a fizzle. Buzzing that wouldn't qualify as background texture in a Prodigy rant sounds, in a Low song, like the Earth methodically sawing itself in half. These drums won't crash, in your ears, unless you've internalized the way Mimi usually taps them. If you haven't heard how she can making not singing sound tenser than singing, the tiny rasps as she leans into the lines of "Days Of..." won't sound like the hibernating dragon at the heart of the world gradually shrugging off sleep. A thousand other bands have hired string sections; if you don't know how empty these spaces in Low songs would have been before, you won't stagger when you hear strings materialize in them. You've heard other Steve Albini recordings, perhaps (and I used to think I didn't like him, but between this and Vent 414's album I realize that position has become firmly untenable), but you can't appreciate from them what an accomplishment it is to find nuances in Low's performances that escaped their previous producers (including themselves)."

Yeah, wonderfully put. And the last couple of albums prove there is no end to the journey in sight.

yeah, i love both of those quotes. i came to them late, in the things we lost/trust time-frame, so even great destroyer sounded like some sort of betrayal to me. they have always been changing from the beginning, while always retaining their low-ness. that's extremely hard to do, although easier to do for a duo that are both incredible singers