Release Date: April 12, 2011
Simply and impossibly, Low has done it again. The Minnesotans count 18 years between a humble beginning and C’mon, though the lapse in time doesn’t show. There have been many incarnations of the band, but no matter the result, their palette remains the same. When the husband-and-wife duo, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, lay stratospheric harmonies over minimalist instrumentation, the result is a thing of unrestrained beauty.
Bidding adieu to the political days of Drums And Guns, Low’s latest was taped in the same cathedral as Trust; fitting for something so supernal. C’mon refines a sound that’s slow and steady, suspended and airy. It might also be the cheeriest (if that word can ever be applied) Low album, yet at least the glockenspiel on “Try to Sleep” seems to think so. All of Low’s the pent-up moroseness still lingers, only now it’s pierced by the bright rays of C’mon.
While the guitars soar in the rafters, the sparseness really sets in; there’s such thorough attention to each track that it’s easy to appreciate the small things.
“Especially Me” showcases Parker’s gift for lyrical charm, “Some songs sound like butter/Some songs sound like cake/This little number is for your sake.” There are odes to majesties, to nightingales, laments over dying dreams and lost loves; each bit a sweet lullaby, each bit radiant.
It never seems like Low is taking on too much—it never has, but for a band that seems so persnickety about sound, the lyric sheet does not disappoint. In the surprisingly poignant “$20,” the couplet, “Breath of a bird/A voice never heard,” proves Sparhawk’s poetic penchant. Like an Eye Spy book, the subtleties of C’mon are incredibly well placed; just when you think you’ve found every little detail, something pops out and surprises you. And even though the band does a lot with a little, it’s never overbearing. Slow they may be, drag they do not.
Low – C’mon Tracklist:
- “Try to Sleep”
- “You See Everything”
- “Witches”
- “Done”
- “Especially Me”
- “$20”
- “Majesty/Magic”
- “Nightingale”
- “Nothing But Heart”
- “Something’s Turning Over”
