Album Review: Low – The Great Destroyer

2005’s The Great Destroyer is the sound of Low casting off their shackles, loosening up and having a blast.  Opening track Monkey is possibly their most sinister yet, with Mimi Parker pounding the drums as she and Alan Sparhawk sing about “tonight you will be mine… tonight the monkey dies” as Sparhawk tears it up on his guitar.

This album has been billed as Low’s ‘rock’ album, and certainly Sparhawk’s guitars on California and Just Stand Back would bear this out, and all the while with veiled threats in the lyrics (the latter’s “here comes the knife… I could turn on you so fast”).  California is an almost classic style rocker, and the distortion is turned up to the max on Everybody’s Song.  Sparhawk channels his inner Neil Young on When I Go Deaf and also the towering On The Edge Of, like prime slices of 70s Crazy Horse.

It’s not all in-your-face-rock.  Silver Rider is a more classic Low midtempo brooder, while Cue the Strings is reminiscent of Will the Night (off Secret Name) with just a little added menace.  The addition of children’s voices on Step doesn’t entirely work and Broadway (So Many People) with its queries of “where is the laughter?” is a little overlong.

But it’s the final three tracks that really round off this album with a flourish.  What can be said about Pissing other than it’s almost as sinister as Monkey.  Starting quietly, with minimal instrumentation and lyrics, it explodes with guitars halfway through as the insistent melody plays on.  But this has nothing on Death of a Salesman, a sparse acoustic strum with sneering menace from Alan Sparhawk as he sings “I forgot all my songs, the words now are wrong and I burned my guitar in a rage”, before the final track Walk Into the Sea which strays back towards traditional Low territory, albeit with slightly more prominent guitars.

This album upset some fans of Low’s more traditional, doomy sound but I find it refreshing to see the band aim for new territory.  And most importantly the songs are extremely strong.

EP Review: Low - Murderer

Low put out this EP in 2003 as a limited release.  The title track sounds very basic and simple at first, a three-chord guitar strum with Alan Sparhawk singing about how “you may need a murderer… someone to do your dirty work” as Mimi Parker coos in the background.  The track builds and swells wonderfully as Parker harmonises with Sparhawk as the guitars pick up the pace, rising and falling in intensity as the track progresses.

Silver Rider, on the other hand, sounds unfinished.  A drum pattern and keyboard pick out the backing for this one, framing a ghostly melody.  The short EP finishes with the longest track here, From Your Place On Sunset.  This track is a classic, slow-as-hell, plodding, growling Low track.  Parker and Sparhawk’s vocals on this one really bring it to life and it works really well, with Sparhawk cranking out the guitars towards the end.

Album Review: Robert Plant – Band of Joy

You have to hand it to Robert Plant. Not for him the easy option of taking the huge cash on offer for a Led Zeppelin reunion. Instead the former rock god has had an interesting career, dabbling in bluegrass and folk.

This album mainly consists of covers, from Los Lobos to Low via Richard Thompson and Townes Van Zandt. Angel Dance, the opener is a kind of sprightly folk, while House of Cards is more a lumbering, slow-burning rock track. Plant covers not just one Low track but 2! Silver Rider is the more successful of the two, as Plant allows the band to stretch out with some superb guitar. Monkey on the other hand struggles to match the visceral intensity of the original. Nevertheless, they are great songs, and Plant does a decent job on them.

On the other end of the spectrum, You Can’t Buy My Love is a kind of early 60s stomp, and we get some bluegrass in Cindy, I'll Marry You Someday and Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down. Townes Van Zandt’s Harm Swift Way is transformed into country rock, working quite well.

Overall the album is a little hit and miss, but at least he’s pushing himself creatively.