Low "Drums and Guns" (Sub Pop)
By Ryan Harig
Monday. Apr 30, 11:57 AM
Not enough of the good stuff.

Let me start off by saying that I fucking love Low with a passion. Yet I was not that excited to do this review cuz I was terrified that I would for some dumb reason not enjoy what I was going to hear. But alas, the review must go on, as difficult as it may be…

The first four tracks slide over my brain like the kick of a drug. "Pretty People" is intense and disgusting all in one murky, awesome song (over too quickly), "Belarus" is an exotic little moment of electronic blippery, and then my personal favorite "Breaker": a testament to the newer, more exploratory Low that we have been hearing since they started playing loud squealing distortion. "Dragonfly," a song I heard the band play last year, is also beautiful and disturbing like all amazing things the band does.

But then the rest of the album loses me. Why? If you have ever seen Low live, then you’d know what an amazing thing it is when Mimi Parker hits her toms and cymbals. It’s an awesome feeling, folks. Almost like the opposite of a Mogwai show: you just want to curl up on the stage and go to sleep sucking your thumb. My point is this: I love Low and what they were originally doing (minimalist instrumentation and execution). I love a lot of their new direction too, but on Drums and Guns I get tired of beat-loving Fridmann’s production. I want real drums; I want real noise. Urgent and unforgiving like the band’s monolithic songs such as "I Am the Lamb," "In Metal," and my personal favorite "When I Go Deaf." Unfortunately, Drums and Guns doesn’t give me what I need.

I still like Drums and Guns, but I’m not sure I’ll ever really warm up to Low mixing electronic grooves into their stereotypically minimalistic tunes. Maybe that will change, but for now, I’m stuck on the first four songs and the new Calla album.
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Ryan Harig

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