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Rating:
It is not easy at all to approach Low after having loved and worn out the copies of the two previous albums, "Things We Lost In The Fire" and especially "Trust" (personally my top album of 2002).
They were a splendid certainty, you could give in to the ebb and flow of emotions and (pain)e(n)ter the secret of this sort of black and white Fairport Convention, Alan Sparhawk like a low-fi Leonard Cohen, the splendid Mimi Parker as an indie icon, a Sandy Denny plagiarized by the litanic blues of Black Heart Procession or the dark psychedelia of Yo La Tengo...
All of this still (re)exists, but there is a sharp swerve towards rock. A wall of sound that dominates without overpowering, starting from the splendid opener track, Monkey. I find it a mistake to have compressed, almost isolated, Mimi Parker's singing, which is a natural gift that fans - I fear - will no longer be able to do without. Then comes Silver Rider and it is a true eden, a minimal game of voices (Mimi and Sparhawk chasing each other like Richard and Linda Thompson in their heyday), a small great magic that makes you forgive even the cheesy pop of Step and the slightly cacophonous effect of the distortions. It's a spell that breaks and is reborn multiple times, even in the onanistic classicism of On The Edge Of and the energy of the concluding Walk Into The Sea. It's not a given that the true Low must necessarily be those of the remarkable Death Of A Salesman (Arthur Miller, recently deceased, thanks you) nor in the feedback crescendo of Pissing.
There is not much left of the sonic liturgy of "Trust". I would dare say that at times a newfound or cursed (for those struggling to understand the reasons for this change) vitality can be breathed.
I cannot say I did not love this album, but in my opinion, something is missing, that emotional, psychoreactive whirlwind that the previous masterpiece had, and perhaps the group dares to look at it with detached fear. More than a destruction in progress, I would call it yet another coup de foudre for one of the most passionate and significant bands of American indie rock. It's not little.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Monkey (04:19)
Oh my my
Little white lies
I swear I'm gonna make it right
This time
It's not the radio
Turn it way down low
Telling me things I do not know I know
Tonight you will be mine
Tonight the monkey dies
Tonight you will be mine
Tonight the monkey dies
Now who's to blame
You used to be the same
Now you won't let me speak your name
What a shame
It's a suicide
Shut up and drive
We're never going to make the light
but it's all right
Tonight you will be mine
Tonight the monkey dies
Tonight you will be mine
Tonight the monkey dies
(repeat chorus)
02 California (03:23)
See your reflection in your mind
You keep your revelations wide eyed
They knew just where to draw the line
You let them get you every time
Though it breaks your heart
We had to sell the farm
Back to California where it's warm
It fell around you like the stars
You picked up everything they dropped
And though it breaks you like a song
You had some secrets of your own
(repeat chorus)
It's warm
It's warm
Though it breaks your heartv We had to sell the farm
Nights were just too long
With all your children gone
Would it keep you strong
If I said it with a song
Back to California where it's warm
03 Everybody's Song (03:55)
Pour yourself another cup another cup another cup
And wait
I can't wait forever
Live your life
A stupid life a stupid life a stupid life
Nobody does it better
Breaking everybody's heart
Taking everyone apart
Breaking everybody's heart
Singing everybody's song
All your dreams are waking up are waking up are waking up in space
You can't sleep forever
Every day you torture us you torture us you torture us
Nothing stays together
(repeat chorus)
04 Silver Rider (05:03)
At times I see you, you silver rider
Sometimes your voice is not enough
Your face in windows outside forever
Nobody dreamed you'd save the world
Nobody dreamed you'd save the world
Your march is over
The great destroyer
She passes through you like a knife
Oh take me with you
You silver rider
Sometimes your voice is not enough
Sometimes your voice is not enough
06 On the Edge Of (03:49)
Soft from your lips to the rise of your stomach
Your lungs filled with fingers keep jamming words down my throat
Nothing to steal we've got nothing to love
Nothing to spill because oh we're so innocent oh
Oh on the edge of
Oh on the edge of
I could have built you a house on the ocean
The ocean repeating and receding into the sun
So cut to you dead and now cut to the laughing
Cut through our bodies and lastly into our oh
Oh on the edge of
Oh
Oh on the edge of
07 Cue the Strings (03:30)
Before you speak
The words so plain to see
Upon your skin
They sing, they dance and spin
So what, pray tell
Will save you now?
Here comes that cold sunrise
And at the peak
We reach to cue the strings
They ring so sweet
They lay in plain relief
So what, pray tell
Will save you now?
Here comes that cold sunrise
Here comes that cold sunrise
08 Step (03:18)
The levee's breaking
Feel it shakin' like the dirt
All the kids are sleeping
Silent dreams beneath their heads
Go to wake up screamin'
Little lights above your bed
Hey, keep an eye on what you say
You think the words just walk away
But they creep into my brain
Sinking deep into my step
My step
I am the walrus darlin'
No one ever knows my name
You are the chorus sweet thing
Never sing that song again
Hey, keep an eye on what you say
You think the words just walk away
But they're creepin' through my brain
Sinkin' deep into my step
My step
(chorus repeated)
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