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Low — Drums And Guns

Mar 27, 2007

by CHARTattack Robot

This is, believe it or
not, Low’s eighth album. The sparse record builds on the aesthetic
shift of The Grand Destroyer and is eerily reminiscent of the debut
effort from British sad sack shoe shufflers Elbow (minus the
grandiosity). Regardless, the same sort of dirge-like instrumentation
provides the setting for beautifully pained vocals that swell and crash
at every turn. On "Dust On The Window," Mimi Parker’s elegiac voice is
so achingly downtrodden that she has to be singing to her shoes. The
bass runs obediently in the background punctuated by sporadic guitar
stabs on the compact "Hatchet," but it’s the vocal interplay between
frontman Alan Sparhawk and Parker that makes it so compelling. Low have
hit new heights with this one. Terrible pun, I know, but how could I
resist? Then again, I really shouldn’t make such an awful joke about an
album that’s so good.