Alan and Mimi formed Low in Duluth, Minnesota in 1993, and they released their debut album, I Could Live in Hope, in 1994. They were joined by various bassists over the years but recorded their most recent album, last year's excellent HEY WHAT, as a duo. Here's what we wrote about the album in our Top 50 Albums of 2021 list, where we ranked it at #3:
How do you follow up a game-changer of a record? If you're Minnesota duo Low, whose 2018 album Double Negative ripped apart their sound while keeping their soul intact, you push things even further. Working again with producer BJ Burton, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker take blowtorches, bandsaws, and ball-pin hammers to their signature, sublime brand of slowcore, and then melt it down into liquid metal. HEY WHAT is a record where you may wonder if your stereo is malfunctioning, if your wifi is on the fritz, or if someone slipped something in your drink. Instrumentation is distorted to the point where you're not sure if what you're hearing are guitars, keyboards, or slowed-down recordings of garbage trucks. But then come Sparhawk and Parker's voices, searing through the maelstrom like a beam of pure light even when what they're singing is as heavy as the music: "When you think you've seen everything, you find yourself living in days like these." We can all relate. The effect, the voices and music, can be overwhelming, but also cathartic if you let Low's beautiful noise wash over you.
Rest in peace, Mimi.
