Originally published in Verbicide issue #19

The music of Duluth, Minnesota’s Low can sound pure and peaceful like a choir filled to the clouds with cherubs and angels. For 14 years, husband and wife team Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker have performed a consistently quiet, minimalist style, but on their new album Guns and Drums, gone are the traditional sounds of Alan’s piercingly slow chords and Mimi’s tempered brushes. Mimi explains that “the new record is a little different from the others. We made it difficult and decided not to play our usual instruments. So there are a lot of keys, drum machines, and samples. The vocals play a dominant role, which isn’t too strange. It is electronic sounding, but very raw and spare.”

On “Pretty People,” the first song on Guns and Drums, it’s apparent that not only the instruments have changed this time around, but also the tone. You know that these are definitely not B-sides from their Christmas album when Alan sings “All the soldiers/They’re all gonna die/And all the little babies/They’re all gonna die/And all the poets, and all the liars/And all you pretty people/You’re all gonna die.”

“It is pretty dark, overall,” Mimi explains. “On our way out to record, we were listening to a book on tape; the author sang an old Irish war song called ‘guns and drums.’ At first, we were hesitant to use it, thinking it was not going to fit with the record, but after we finished it, we found it to be very fitting to the music.”

Low goes on tour for their new album this spring, and although they are still figuring out who they will be touring with, they are playing the All Tomorrows Parties festival in Spain. The fragile and quiet songs of their back catalogue sound best outside of traditional venues, though, where they don’t have to compete with conversations and background noise: “I love playing at venues that are beautiful, such as great American Music Hall in San Francisco and Bowery Ballroom in New York City,” says Mimi. “We have played at a few beautiful churches in Europe — these are amazing. It helps when there is good sound in the room. Churches and theaters have such a different vibe than a typical club does. When people go to shows in these types of unconventional places they have a different mindset. Maybe they are more inclined to really listen.”

Alan and Mimi aren’t out touring alone anymore. With the two new additions to the family, there will be a whole clan on the road.
“We will be taking them [out on tour] a little this spring and summer,” says Mimi. “Our six-year-old says she wants to go on tour now. She has been resistant to all the driving in the past.

“Taking care of children takes up most of my day,” she continues. “But I still get time to bake and cook. I really enjoy that. You start with basic raw ingredients. Put it all together. And when you are done you have a finished — and hopefully amazing — product.”

Like Mimi’s home cooking, Low sounds so unique that guests at their table will strain to discern the influences hidden underneath their first taste. To Mimi, Low “are influenced by so much music. From Waylon Jennings, the Velvet Underground, Joy Division, AC/DC… I guess the goal is to take everything in your brain and come up with something original. It’s not so easy these days.”