Low - Things We Lost in the Fire - Kranky Records

Review by: Dave Morgan

Whenever I'm forced to describe Low to someone who is unfamiliar with them, I find myself grasping for adjectives. Words like beautiful and glacial always seem to be the only words that I can sputter out. Low's music reminds me of various kinds of sacred music. The voices seem almost angelic at times. It is music for cathedrals.

On Things We Lost In the Fire, their newest album (and second for Chicago label Kranky), all things that people think of as typically Low-sounding are there. The slow tempos. The male-female harmonies. This record, however, seems to be a continuation of the evolution that they started on their last record, 1999's Secret Name. The tempo picks up here and there. The instrumentation is more varied. Thankfully, they avoid the possible pitfalls that many bands succumb to when they try to expand their sound past what they have already done. It feels like a natural progression to someone who has listened to their past albums and not like a conscious decision to "try new things."

Things We Lost… starts off with the line, "When they found your body, giant X's on your eyes. And with your half of the ransom, you bought some sweet, sweet, sweet sunflowers." It is sung in a lilting harmony to gently insistent guitar. Songs about life and death are juxtaposed with beautiful voices. They often give one a feeling of being at peace with the world. It is a hard sentiment to put into words.

The next song, "Whitetail," is positively dirge-like. Its frantically brushed cymbals play off of a slow, steady pulse of bass and guitar which move into consistently more dissonant sounds. It builds slowly with each verse before finally falling off.

They rest of the album maintains the variety while keeping a cohesive sound. Pianos, acoustic guitars, trumpets (courtesy of Bob Weston) and violins all pop up at different points to have their say. Steve Albini did a great job of capturing the sounds here. His work with more conventional "rock" bands sometimes seems to fall flat. He's at his best when he's working with bands like Low and Bedhead (whose 1998 farewell Transaction de Nova is a masterpiece of interweaving guitar tones.) Things We Lost In the Fire is an admirable step out for Low and a great record.

Read a review of Low and The Dirty Three In the Fishtank here.