There is always a moment in a Low set where your hairs stand on end. Usually when the Duluth, Minnesota trio’s dual vocals first meet in perfect matrimony, with either Alan Sparhawk or Mimi Parker resting an octave above the other. Tonight, for many, it is during the third song ‘Plastic Cup’, where Mimi echoes the last word of its’ opening line.
For some it comes later and for some it comes earlier, but the moment definitely comes for everyone in the sold-out Brudenell Social Club. With selections from their most recent album Ones & Sixes and cuts from the breadth of a lifetime spanning over two decades and counting there are certainly enough moments to choose from over the course of two sets. But hairs standing on end aren’t the only thing Low have going for them nowadays.
For as much as the band have made their name with some of the most beautiful, barely-there pop music you could care to mention, they are in the present day as much a hard-rock band as they are a band that the term ‘slowcore’ (read: minimal, glacially paced, subtly produced indie-rock) can be tagged onto. Case in point is ‘On My Own’ and the crushing low-end riff that carries it. It is pure Crazy Horse, and it overwhelms the nation’s best venue in the way you might expect bands like Sunn O))) to. Where several albums ago Low’s audience would be sat in hushed reverence there is now instances of headbanging, as reserved as they may be.
The band, with this increasing intensity, have grown as performers even if they still keep audience interaction to a minimum. This is due, in part, to the presence of their fourth bassist Steve Garrington who looks and sounds like more of a pivotal point of the bands sound than his three predecessors ever did.
Yet for their (relatively) newfound intensity, they are still the absolute masters of restraint. ‘Lion/Lamb’ and ‘Sunflower’ – both taken from the band’s mid-point (so far) and creative apex (again, so far) – are utterly gorgeous. harmony-driven gems of a level and consistency that no band has matched since REM. And it is almost criminal that they are performed to a crowd of several hundred rather than tens of thousands even if said several hundred are utter devotees.
There is a slight worry that the trio’s decision to tour a two-set show is an indication of a future hiatus or even worse a conclusion, as they have had the repertoire to put on such a performance from three or four albums in, but if it is a curtain call then there aren’t many better ways to bow out.
