1996’s The Curtain Hits The Cast is one of the more difficult Low albums. Few of the songs are particularly accessible. In addition, vocalist Alan Sparhawk sings in a higher register for many of the tracks, which doesn’t particularly suit him.
Opening track, Anon has the sound of somebody falling in pain but its followed by The Plan and Over the Ocean which are more soothing. Mimi Parker takes lead vocals on The Plan which has Low’s trademark gingerly picked clean electric guitars, while on the latter track Parker and Sparhawk’s voices intertwine.
The following tracks are funereally-paced and downbeat (Mom Says, Coattail). Standby has a stronger melody and features a fine build up in tempo and tone mid-song, while Laugh is one of Sparhawk’s earliest incursions into distorted guitars.
Penultimate track Do You Know How To Waltz? is 14 and a half minutes of guitar effects, drawn out shoegazing washes of guitar and precious little that resembles an actual song. Despite this, it’s one of the best tracks here, on what is one of Low’s more challenging albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment