With 2007’s Drums and
Guns album, Low got really out there.
Gone were the rock guitars of The Great Destroyer, replaced by an
emphasis on beats and eerie organ tones.
It’s a very jarring listen right from the first track Pretty People,
which has little instrumentation to speak of barring Alan Sparhawk singing “all
you pretty people, we’re all going to die”.
It's possibly one of the least inviting opening tracks ever.
There’s a kind of
malevolence at the heart of the album with song titles like Sandinista,
Hatchet, Murderer, Violent Past etc.
Belarus sees them in electronica territory, not too far away from
Radiohead’s Kid A. Breaker feels very
minimalist, with handclaps and a one-fingered organ melody fleshing out a
melody which on another Low album would probably be a warm guitar strum.
The album actually gets
stronger as it progresses, Sandinista’s marching drums provide the background
for Mimi Parker and Sparhawk’s wonderful harmonies. Like many tracks on the album it’s brief,
clocking in at under two and a half minutes, further into the album Your Poison
is a mere 1 minute 13 seconds. Even the
sweeter moments like Parker’s Dust On The Window are covered in crashing drums
and eerie noises, while church bells run throughout the odd-sounding Take Your
Time.
Possibly the three
strongest melodies are saved till the final three tracks. In Silence features a piano and a rare
appearance of guitar rounding out the sound and Murderer is fleshed out with glitchy
electronica to gloriously sinister effect, accentuating lyrics like “don’t act
so innocent, I’ve seen you pound your fist into the earth”. Final track Violent Past manages to turn the
chilly keyboards into something approaching (luke)warmth.
It’s never going to be
my favourite Low album, and it certainly isn’t a good introduction to them, but
it’s a fascinating and rewarding album nevertheless.
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