Low- Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) MP3 & FLAC

"I don't need a laser beam. I don't need the time. Leave me in the car tonight; 
rest your drunken mind."

Formed in Duluth, Minnesota in the early nineties, Low embody the essence of the Slowcore genre: minimalist arrangements, glacial tempos, and fragile, achingly beautiful vocals. On second thought, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Low embody everything so-called Slowcore bands wish they could be. Taken as a whole, Low's considerable discography (they've been issuing records for 17 years now) can seem a little samey, but with proper care and attention, each album reveals a subtly different personality while not straying far from what makes this band so special. And what makes Low special is their masterful use of space as an additional element in the song arrangements and Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's breathtaking vocal harmonies, which often manage to convey by turns (and sometimes simultaneously) an icy despair and an epic warmth that make the songs sound timeless in the way certain old folk songs do. Things We Lost in the Fire is considered by many to be Low's masterpiece because it marks a juncture in their discography where they began to occasionally experiment with different rhythms and a slightly harder sound, the latter being something that would become a little more prominent on future albums. In many ways, lead track "Sunflower" is a quintessential Low song, as it combines darkly-themed lyrics (a tale of murder) with a beautiful minimalist melody that creeps out of the arrangement like a ghost, and then is chased out into the open by Sparhawk and Parker's sweetly melancholic harmonies. In contrast, "Dinosaur Act" introduces a harder edge to Low's sonic palette while still retaining their trademark tempo. Perhaps the most impressive song on Things We Lost in the Fire is one of the most minimally arranged, "Laser Beam." Comprised of little more than Sparhawk's arpeggios and Parker's stunning solo vocal performance, this song exemplifies what sets Low apart from the Slowcore pack: they use the spaciousness and the simplicity of the music to give voice to the silences, thus breathing a sense of emotional authenticity into the recording that would have been lost through a more conventional approach such as drenching the song in pathos-drenched strings. Truly, there is no band better at creating epic emotions out of slightly skewed simplicity.

Low- "Over the Ocean" Video (1996)

 A gorgeous, narcoleptic lullaby from one of the great indie bands of the nineties...

Low & Dirty Three- In the Fishtank EP (2001) MP3 & FLAC

"I hear the window shake. I hear the silence break. I hear the moon turn to blood."

The pairing of Low and Dirty Three is easily the highpoint of Konkurrent's In the Fishtank series and never fails to leave me mourning the fact that these bands have not recorded together since. Nevertheless, what we do have here is an EP-length document of a truly inspired collaboration resulting in a creative alchemy that transforms these bands into something greater than the sum of their parts (and don't get me wrong, these are pretty amazing parts). Admittedly, Dirty Three tends to play a supporting role here, but their distinctive shambling Post-Rock ethos cuts through Low's hushed oceanic thickness, making it sound even more melancholy and epic. The centerpiece of the EP is a sublime 10-minute cover of Neil Young's "Down by the River," which proceeds by turning the song inside-out until Mimi Parker's deceptively lullabye-esque vocals lead us further into spiritual darkness. A small masterpiece.