Low- The Invisible Way Review

Low has been a favorite of mine for many years. Their music is extremely interesting to me even though it can be very simple. Labels such as ''slowcore'' or ''sadcore'' have been used to describe the band but they seem to be very silly labels. Yes, Low is slow and yes, Low has a sort of melancholic feel to it but there is much more complexity to Low's music then what you hear on the surface. Low seems to cause listening to become emotionally connected to their music by playing minimalistic yet beautiful sounding music at most times a slow pace that takes some getting used to.

If you listen to Low's discography you can see a sort of evolution. The first three albums had the slow, haunting melodic beauty that is still present today in their music. Once Low teamed up with legendary producer Steve Albini they seemed to take a more experimental side by adding new instrumentation along with Albini's sparse yet wide open sounding production to create some very interesting music. Their most diverse album, The Great Destroyer, has them laying back on the sort of slow stuff and adding some surprising rockin tunes in the mix, its weird to say but Low made a summer album type album with that record. With Drums and Guns, Low went back to the experimental side and create a sort of political statement with the record with lyrics about war and new experimentation with electronics that has an eerie and powerful feel throughout the album.

After 20 years of music Low has become a band that is truly unique and has a sound that is fully evolved. With the new album, The Invisible Way, Low has come back with the same Low sound adding a lot more piano and acoustic guitars to the mix and having Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame producing. The acoustic and piano give the album a very natural feel along with Tweedy's production. The whole sound of the album is complete and consistent.

What makes Low so powerful emotionally is not only the soft sparse music, its the vocals between guitarist Alan Sparhawk and drummer Mimi Parker (husband and wife). Alan Sparhawk voice is soft but filled with emotion. When you hear him sing you can hear sadness and anger as well. Along with Sparhawks brutally honest lyrics the listener begins feel as if he is hearing someones inner thoughts that are all too personal. But this is balanced by Mimi Parker wonderful vocal harmony that sounds beautiful. She is one of the greatest voice in indie rock.

The music on this album is very nice and has moments of sadness as well as uplifting tracks. Plastic Cup, Amethyst, Waiting and Clarence White are three standout tracks that really capture what Low. Songs like So Blue, Holy Ghost and Just Make It Stop displays Mimi Parker beautiful front and center. On My Own features a great break from the acoustic to have a noisy guitar in the background for the last 3 minutes. The whole album has lot of mixture of sounds that is truly pleasing to a Low fan such as myself. There is some new elements mixed with the old elements which cause for a great pleasing listen. While many new listeners may not pick up on such subtleties I feel that The Invisible Way has something for everybody regardless of your music taste. This is a great Low album and one of the best Ive heard this year.