ALBUM OF THE YEAR
1 lOw Double Negative sUb pOp
A fter 25 years of sublime harmony, this year it seemed as if Low’s façade of restraint might finally have cracked. A band of minimalism, melody and control, the Duluth trio has traditionally operated on a policy of strong words, softly spoken, the harmonies of drummer Mimi Parker and guitarist Alan Sparhawk resonating within an uncluttered, almost sacred space. But an experimental band never stops searching. After flirtations with electronics alongside producer BJ Burton on 2015’s Ones And Sixes, the band now went full immersion and allowed Burton to smash their compositions with gales of electronic sound. the result was a record by turns consoling and disquieting; containing the shock of the new while retaining the delightfully familiar.
reference points for the new record range from eno’s Discreet Music and radiohead’s In Rainbows to the fog-bank electronica of tim Hecker’s
Ravedeath, 1972. In a strong year for enduring ’90s independent artists, this was surely the very strongest work. In the absence of significant new studio albums by rock’s elder statesmen, Double Negative also punched extra weight: you could almost read this as having that restated singularity of purpose that characterises the best late-career albums.
rather than a superficial electronic makeover, the album performed fundamental work on the band’s fabric, like watching an entrancing film, only to have something suddenly smash through the screen. the opening track “Quorum” introduced the new Low landscape: Mimi Parker’s harmony vocals discernible and delightful, as Burton creates barometric conditions that occlude their usual clarity. At times Low are present more by implication than anything else – the magnificent endpoint, perhaps, of their characteristic restraint.
Coming and going, the band drift in and out of their electronic camouflage, the opening trio of “Quorum”, “Dancing And Blood” and the moving “fly” an unfolding ambient suite. By “tempest” their serene sound descended into a scarifying growl and buzz, a happy peace finally brokered towards the end of the album with the transcendent “Disarray”.
Musical abstractions often encourage us to deduce what we want from them. Here, Low’s engagement with noise only served to extend their range – and illuminate their ongoing investigation of beauty, spirituality and decay. ON THis mONTH’s CD