Low - Songs for a Dead Pilot

Low released this experimental EP in 1997.  Here, they started to push the boundaries of what Low sounded like.  It opens with a really strangely recorded version of Will the Night, with all the vocals and instrumentation relegated to the background, almost sounding like it came from a different room, and a kind of drone which follows the melody is given centre stage. 

The dead slow trudge through Condescend comes next, a wintry yet warm tune sung by Mimi Parker.  Speaking of trudges, the thirteen minute plus Born by the Wires is even slower and grimmer than Condescend.  A fragile, high pitched Alan Sparhawk vocal crawls across dissonant guitar rumbles, the track is kind of hard work.  The sinister, creeping Be There is quite minimal but works well, while Landlord is slow and foreboding.  Parker and Sparhawk's signature harmonies make an appearance on the sweetest, briefest, and final track, Hey Chicago. 

Definitely for committed fans rather than casual dabblers.

Album Review: Low – Secret Name

1999’s Secret Name was where Low started to get a whole lot more accessible. Without compromising the quality of song. Having said that, it’s hard to imagine a less accessible opener than I Remember with an eerie synth pattern topped off by an almost inaudible vocal from Alan Sparhawk and some muted static. It’s a somewhat bewildering way to open the album.

Starfire is a whole lot more melodic despite Sparhawk’s again off-kilter vocals, with added heavenly harmonies and Mo Tucker style drumming from Mimi Parker, before the first real keeper on this album, Two-Step. It starts off quietly with a delicately strummed electric over Sparhawk’s whispered vocals before the melody kicks in after a minute and a half, ushering in celestial vocals from Parker. The subtle melody winds its way round your ears, making it a classic Low track.

The standard is maintained by the Parker-sung Weight of Water, featuring a soaring string section and a glacially paced melody. Don’t Understand is darker, with a sinister, tense opening before the somewhat angry track commences, like a dry run for later, noisier material.

Soon is a real epic, evolving from a muted strum to a brooding, string-led Velvet Underground style midsection. It’s almost unbearably grim, and unbearably great. The tension is punctured by Immune, which comes as something of a relief as it’s a relatively conventional song, very sweetly sung and played by Parker and Sparhawk in all its beautifully played glory.

Penultimate track Will The Night is something of a show-stopper. There’s no percussion this time until halfway through, only a gorgeous, almost hymn-like melody sung over soaring strings. It’s all over in less than two and a half minutes.

The album is almost like the quintessential Low album which reflects their entire discography, it’s opaque and off-putting to begin with, but when persevered with the rewards are immense and addictive.