GutterPutter

Simply put, you can’t spell slowcore without Low. Recognised by many as being one of the most important band of the cult-beloved genre since the early 1990s, the married couple of Alan Sparhawk & Mimi Parker had retained a respectable following. Although they dislike the given label, their down-tempo rhythm, melancholic vocal harmonies & minimal instrumental arrangement makes then highly reputable on the back of 1994’s I Could Live in Hope & 2001’s Things We Lost in the Fire. Around a score later into their careers, they opt to go more experimental – the means being through adventurous types of electronica. 2018’s Double Negative is the breakthrough exploration of their interest in post-industrial & ambient sounds & while the big jump in its change can alienate its fanbase, a few others praise the shift for how fitting it is. Given the tense climate in the U.S & a whole load of worldwide issues at the time of its release, Double Negative feels like a kind of commentary around the innate greed of man through conflict. With HEY WHAT, the sense of despair still remains, this time with a glimmer of hope that shines through all its disorientations.

The signature long note for the vocals remain in the band, yet we now reach the point where their latest outings revolve around a whole load of noisy repetitions of mechanised guitars & percussions. ‘White Horses’ is a great feat in how that direction would come across as the vocal harmony stands in contrast with the discordant chord amidst the metallic production. There’s a feeling of defiance, a drive that goes far beyond what one would assume to be at resignation’s door & it’s with the gradual crescendo until around 3/5th of the track which reflects on the duo’s determination. The hypnotic playing of the note continues to hold you on with wavering pitch to ‘I Can Wait’ which shows the band in their doubt, pondering about their fears in their decision. It’s not one that I can talk about in depth around its strengths, but it’s mostly an admirable piece that makes up its repetition for its industrialised studio tinkering.

We then have ‘All Night’ which is a primarily gorgeous piece of music for mixing the harmonies with the wheezing sci-fi electronics before the mechanised playing of the guitars pour through. For all its visceral feedback, you could sense a bit of ethereal idealism in the lyrics as its abstract lines convey the search for comfort underneath a depressive bout of insomnia.

While ‘Disappearing’ has in itself an enchanting refrain of the couple singing to the heavily reverberated feedbacks, the lyrics on the other hand shows us the thesis of the album. ‘The disappearing horizon/ It brings cold comfort to my soul’ is an ambiguously hopeful sign against all the absurdist chaos that daunts our lives like a phantom & it’s one that can stick at you with ease. In contrast, ‘Hey’ is a let-down within the strings of solid songs that could’ve well made HEY WHAT Low’s equivalent to Radiohead’s Kid A through its codependence on its droning ambience & its dubious execution of its repetitive chorus. The production that moves Parker’s voice around the stereo setting can come off as being annoying & the lyrics for the chorus feels too vague for us to empathise with them.

Compare that with ‘Days Like These’ which can feel empowering with how the composition can be best described as being a mechanical version of the band’s past chamber pop sounds with a harsh dissonance to its beats. It has an energetic resolution of hope that you wouldn’t expect to see from the band. ‘There’s a Comma After Still’ is mostly a droning, ambient instrumental that is admittedly boring to say the least. With just under 2 minutes’ worth of duration, it doesn’t last too long for it to come off as grating, but it’s an unfortunate strain of dirt to add to what might well be some of the couple’s best materials yet.

Enter ‘Don’t Walk Away’ which reminds me a lot of the likes of Women not for its musical style, but rather in how it sounds like an experimental re-interpretation of the 50s-60s pop music. It feels largely reminiscent of a gloomily romantic depiction of Elvis Presley’s hit in ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ with Parker’s singing to add to the texture. As loving as it is painful in its delivery, you could feel your heart strings being tugged by the end of the song. ‘More’ is another one of Low’s more triumphant tunes with its short length being contrasted with its screeching melody of guitar dissonance & a notable absence of Sparhawk’s singing. I’m personally not a fan of it as the lyrics shares the lack of direction with ‘Hey’ nor do I find the instrumentation to be as interesting as other tracks. That being said, I can see the appeal within it as it’s arguably the furthest the band has gotten from their slowcore roots.

It’s with ‘The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)’ that we witness the album end in a strong landing. The callback to the features on the album’s best tracks is all there. Wherever it be the addictive plucking of one guitar note, the harmonic cacophony of the industrial sounds & noises or metallic production, you can feel the gravitas of the band once again. This time, it’s not so storming through so much as it is crashing down straight through the Earth. The lyrics, if the songwriting objective is to try & balance out the abstraction with the subtext of optimism, is at its forefront as noted in the first verse. The glitchy aesthetics of Double Negative can be found as the crescendo once again starts to pulverize through the finale. The climatic build-up in the instruments have undergone through a pause in the last third to make way for the vocal harmonies to be included in. The result being a technological crash that can leave you with chills as you take in with what has been said. HEY WHAT may not be the late masterpiece that one would’ve expected with the hype around Low’s growth in their musical expanse, but it does prove that they have what it takes to inspire even in their most bleakest hour.