Minnesotan slowcore band Low recently announced a new album to be released this Autumn. Ones and Sixes was recorded with sound engineer BJ Burton at Justin Vernon’s studio in Wisconsin and, as Alan Sparhawk describes, comes from somewhere close to home:
“In our 20+ years of writing songs, I’ve learned that no matter how escapist, divergent, or even transcendent the creative process feels, the result is more beholden to what is going on at the moment. It’s hard to admit that one is so influenced by what is in front of us. Doesn’t it come from something magical and far away? No, it comes from here. It comes from now. I’m not going to tell you what this record is about because I have too much respect for that moment when you come to know it for yourself.”
To learn more about the album you should read this interview with Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk from Stereogum.
The first new track ‘No Comprende’ was released a few weeks back. Trademark Low, the song is slow-burning and brooding, the distinctive dual vocals of Parker and Sparhawk rising to your ears like an old friend.
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‘What Part of Me’ is a little different, gentle but growing in intensity across its three minutes. The song is as warm as pretty much anything to date from the band, the hum of synths filling the spaces to give something akin to Yo La Tengo meets Say Hi. “What part of me don’t you know?” asks the refrain, and it’s hard not to frame the question in the context of the Parker and Sparhawk’s marriage.
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Ones and Sixes will be released by Sub Pop on the 11th September. You can pre-order it right now.
Photo by Zoran Orlic