by Tom Johnson
Who knew, at the time, that Low would crank things up like they did with The Great Destroyer, their 2005 Sub-Pop debut? Had they been holding back all those years, or did the label urge them to do something different?
Whatever it was, it worked against every notion fans had when word spread of what was on the horizon. But the bigger question was, what would happen on the next album? Answer: drum machines! It’s not that simple, of course, and the results are in fact much more pleasing than that makes it sound. What we got, actually, was more raw and visceral than Destroyer, in some aspects.
While Mimi Parker may not seem to be manning her snare drum as much, it’s a real treat to actually hear some bass drum in Low’s sound, even if it’s electronic in origin. But this is a dark, dark album, so perhaps letting the Flaming Lips’ favorite producer David Fridmann produce again was a good idea: He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve to keep things from getting too maudlin because, like with the Lips, you just want to listen to hear what’s coming next.
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