When doing a bit of research on this band, I was presented with a term I’d never heard before: Slowcore. Low, from Duluth, Minnesota, are one of the more well-known contributors to this ‘movement’, which is a alternative rock subgenre describing music with slow tempos, downbeat melodies and minimalist arrangements… and in this case, the haunting vocal harmonies of Alan Sparhawk (what a rad last name!) and Mimi Parker. The term is often used interchangeably with “sadcore”, so it’s not much of a surprise that the members of Low don’t agree with being categorized this way.
This Drums and Guns album is said to be more stripped down and yet much more upbeat than the seven albums before it. At any rate, any song using a good hand clap as one of it’s main instrumental sounds is admirable, as far as I’m concerned. If I’m yearning for “sadcore”, I think I’ll skip their first 7 albums and just keep listening to the Red House Painters.
