Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to hat music they like or don’t like. It’s for no one to say that such and such is the cup of tea for all, that any beloved band for one is universally seen as the same. It’s a fool’s game. The evening that Low recorded this session in mid-May, they began their North American tour opening for Wilco here in Davenport, Iowa, which lies just across the Mississippi River from our studio in Rock Island. The trip from venue (the Adler Theatre) to the studio is two minutes by car, three by van. The Duluth, Minnesota lifers were entering the session unknowingly facing high expectations. Our room doesn’t know it, but it was built to make Low’s brand of drowsy – though less drowsy lately – rock and roll sound spectacular. It was a no-brainer that they would perform such a backdrop that it would make you feel like your breath was removed with a vacuum cleaner set on maximum suction. For performance accountants, they were as pristine as they come. So that night, as the light outside was still strong for a show that started sharply past the dinnertime hour, Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker and Matt Livingston shut down the day, speeding up the curtain and made the evening all their own. It inspired awe and demanded absolute attention. It was masterful and dynamically stunning for such little action – Sparhawk’s gripping lyrics and voice that couldn’t break glass if it were made of hammers, Parker’s sweet as rain water harmonies and heart beating tums of percussion and Livingston’s essential low end, bass presence – which filled the air like drugged up butterflies. The man sitting next to me leaves early in the set and returned during the intermission. Upon his return, he comments, “So, you made it through that huh?” I told him I was very keen to it. He returns with, “I just couldn’t take it.” The man is dead to me and obviously dead in his walls. His is a worthless opinion. I know that much to be right. – Sean Moeller

Alan Sparhawk’s descriptions forthcoming

First song
Breaker (Low) [2.34MB] [6076 downloads]


– original version appears on Drums and Guns

Second song
Violent Past (Low) [3.37MB] [5797 downloads]


– original version appears on Drums and Guns

Third song
In Silence (Low) [2.75MB] [5665 downloads]


– original version appears on Drums and Guns

Fourth song
Sandinista (Low) [4.66MB] [5789 downloads]


– original version appears on Drums and Guns