Low/Dirty Three - In the Fishtank - Konkurrent

Review by: Dave Morgan

Damn! This is a beautiful record. I always get my expectations up for collaborative efforts by bands that I like only to have them crushed under a tossed off record. Low and The Dirty Three are the latest in a series of bands that have participated as a part of the In The Fishtank series put together and released by the Konkurrent label out of Holland. The deal is that they invite bands to record while on tour for two days in any manner they like and Konkurrent releases it. Past contributors to the series have included NoMeansNo, Tortoise with The Ex, and June of '44.

Low and The Dirty Three make perfect compliments to each other here. Sparse Low arrangements are augmented with the mournful violin and waterfall guitar of The Dirty Three. Throughout Mimi Parker's vocals are stretched out a bit more than the normal Low stuff which is great. She gets well above her normal near whisper. Low's Alan Sparhawk even throws in some banjo on the gospel sounding "Lordy" with its repeated pleas of "Lordy, save my soul - from the darkness."

The highlight is a slow and harrowing version of Neil Young's "Down By the River." After stretching the intro in free time, slowly the song becomes recognizable before Mimi's almost crooning vocals come in. Nothing can touch the original but this pretty close.

This record is exactly what you would hope for from a collaboration by these two distinct bands (with, perhaps, the exception of the aforementioned "Lordy".) They bring out the best in each other's performances and move into slightly new territory for each. This is a pleasure to listen to. Clocking in at just around 30 minutes, it earns the highest compliment I think a review can give - I wish it was longer.

Read a review of Low's Things We Lost In the Fire here.