Artist Biography
by Jason Ankeny
Formed in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1993,
Low
were perhaps the slowest of the so-called "slowcore" bands; delicate,
austere, and hypnotic, the trio's music rarely rose above a whisper,
divining its dramatic tension in the unsettling open spaces created by
the absence of sound. The group initially won over listeners and critics
with music that was dramatically spare and keenly focused on the
dynamics of their performances; this era peaked with 1999's
Secret Name and 2001's
Things We Lost in the Fire. Once
Low
signed with Sub Pop Records, they embraced a fuller sound and a more
diverse approach, including expanded instrumentation (2005's
The Great Destroyer), pop-accented production (2011's
C'mon), and experiments in discordant electronics (2018's
Double Negative), with the harmonies of
Alan Sparhawk and
Mimi Parker serving as their aural constants.
Initially comprising the husband-and-wife team of guitarist/vocalist
Alan Sparhawk and drummer/vocalist
Mimi Parker, along with bassist
John Nichols,
Low began as an experimental reaction to the predominance of grunge. Producer and Shimmy Disc Records founder
Kramer
soon invited the group to record at his Noise N.J. studios, and the
resulting demos earned them a deal with the Virgin-distributed Vernon
Yard label.
After reentering the studio with
Kramer,
Low emerged with their 1994 debut,
I Could Live in Hope, a beautiful set spotlighting the trio's hauntingly minimal aesthetic -- even
Parker's drum set consisted of only a snare and a hi-hat.
Nichols exited the group prior to 1995's lovely
Long Division, recorded with new bassist Zak Sally. A subsequent appearance on the
Joy Division tribute
A Means to an End was later expanded into the following year's
Transmission EP, a five-track set also featuring a rendition of
Supreme Dicks' "Jack Smith." With new producer
Steve Fisk behind the boards,
Low returned later in 1996 with
The Curtain Hits the Cast. The
Songs for a Dead Pilot EP followed in 1997 and marked
Low's debut with their new label, Kranky, for whom they also released the critically acclaimed
Secret Name in 1999. The late '90s also saw them issue
Owl (Low Remixes) and the
Christmas
mini-album, which featured a cover of "Little Drummer Boy" that became a
minor hit when it was featured in The Gap's holiday season commercials
in 2000. 2000 also brought the release of
The Exit Papers, a limited-edition instrumental EP
Low described as "a soundtrack to an imaginary film."
The band's brilliant
Things We Lost in the Fire arrived on Kranky in 2001, with the darker, more subdued
Trust coming the following year. Two years later, the B-sides/rare tracks collection
A Lifetime of Temporary Relief appeared on
Low's own Chairkickers Music imprint. For their seventh full-length album, 2005's
The Great Destroyer,
Low moved to Sub Pop; the second leg of the group's tour in support of the album had to be canceled after
Sparhawk
announced he was in treatment for depression. By 2007 he was feeling
well enough to return to work, and the group released its second LP for
Sub Pop, the politically charged
Drums and Guns;
Sparhawk had also launched a side project,
the Retribution Gospel Choir, whose debut album appeared in 2008.
Released in 2011,
C'mon marked the debut of bassist
Steve Garrington, while the band also stretched its boundaries by working with producer
Matt Beckley, who had previously worked with mainstream pop acts such as
Katy Perry and
Avril Lavigne. In 2013,
Low's 20th anniversary, the group released
The Invisible Way, which featured production from
Wilco's
Jeff Tweedy.
Low returned with a new studio album,
Ones and Sixes, in September 2015, which the band produced in collaboration with recording engineer
BJ Burton;
Glenn Kotche of
Wilco was a guest on the sessions. In 2016,
Low reissued
The Exit Papers, making the EP available on vinyl and as a digital download for the first time.
Low returned to the studio with
BJ Burton to record 2018's
Double Negative,
an unusually forceful and challenging album that found the trio
experimenting with dissonant electronic backings and aggressively
Auto-tuned vocals.
Tracklist
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