Low never used to be a surprising band. These pioneers of the minimalist, glacially-paced subset of indie rock called slowcore made a name for themselves, beginning with their early ‘90s debut, by doing exactly what everyone expected: producing album after album of quietly gorgeous songs stealing plays from the Velvet Underground. But 2005’s The Great Destroyer saw them ditch that formula for bombastic hard rock, and now Drums and Guns has them plumbing uncharted depths again, exploring electronics, found sounds and environmental noise. The experiments don’t always work out, but for a band coming up on its 15th birthday, it’s a smart and exciting move to make.
Frontman Alan Sparhawk focuses more on coaxing out sounds that electric guitars aren’t designed to make than on playing actual notes, and his wife and drummer Mimi’s percussion relies heavily on drum machine programming and sampled sounds. Without longtime bassist Zak Sally, the low end is held down primarily by deep, soft synthesizer sounds. The electronic chirps, buzzes and hums that suffuse the background of every song are also new. Low has always put a premium on atmosphere, but the new songs sound less like they were recorded at the bottom of a well and more like they were pulled out of the fever dreams of a supercomputer.
The band sounds like it’s spent a lot of time absorbing the lessons of Radiohead’s fusion of rock and experimental electronic music on albums like Kid A and Amnesiac. Unfortunately, they leave most of the melodies to the interplay of Alan and Mimi’s voices, which is often the album’s main problem. Neither is a strong singer alone, but they get it together several times, especially on the spectacular “Murderer,” reason enough to hear the album. A book could be written on the sleepy, hypnotic new sounds of Drums and Guns, but it is to Low’s credit that listening is rewarding enough.
