High on Low

Vickie Gilmer, Pioneer Press. August 12, 1996

They seem embarrased by the attention. Yet the hypnotic, laid-back music created by this Duluth-based trio is pushing them into the spotlight. "We're from Minnesota, we don't like attracting attention to ourselves. We don't like making loud sounds and everybody looking at us," says Low vocalist and guitarist Alan Sparhawk.

He avoids industry schmooze-a-thons and the attendant fawning of fans, critics and industry acolytes. He will probably be uncomfortable in September at the annual CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, the launching pad for the band's tour.

On the flip side, Low has benefited greatly from its label's willingness to promote this Duluth outfit on a national level. Signed to Caroline Records in 1994, Low has just released its third long-player, a double-length album at that. It's in addition to two EPs and a contribution to the acclaimed "A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division."

And the band's efforts seem to have finally paid off. At Low's recent record-release party, a long line of fans stood patiently on the sidewalk waiting for tickets, and while many were turned away, Low had to add a third show to its two-set performance.

On a hot and sticky day recently, Low is in Minneapolis to film a video for its new single, "Over the Ocean," from "The Curtain Hits the Cast." The trio-Sparhawk; his wife, vocalist and percussionist Mimi Parker; and bassist Zak Sally-are working once again with local video luminaries Rick Fuller and Phil Harder.

The threesome breaks from a discussion involving the clothes they must wear for the video (Sparhawk and Parker's clothes don't fulfill Harder's vision, though Sally's vintage-clothing outfit passes the test).

Video production is yet another industry requirement that Low must participate in but one they understand as necessary to its success (the band's last video landed on MTV's "120 Minutes").

Settling in for lunch at a local cafe, the easy-going Low display discusses themselves and "Curtain," which shows the band has once again subtly evolved its unique sound.

Low's gently repressed tempos, Parker's ethereal vocals and Sparhawk and Sally's metronomic chords soothe with a blissfulness that can lull one into a dream state.

The departures from its previous efforts reflect Parker and Sparhawk's ability to capitalize on strengths without cornering themselves.

Parker initially hung behind Sparhawk, contributing few vocals to the band's debut, "I Could Live in Hope." With its second effort, Parker came out front, displaying a voice that has dazzled critics.

Now, with "Curtain," Sparhawk and Parker have melded their voices together to create what fans say is one of the most stunning harmony duos in music today.

Another new step for Low surfaces in "Do You Know How To Waltz?," which at 14-plus minutes "almost stops being a song after we stop singing it and it becomes this sound thing, an experiment with time and the way the mind perceives sound and time," Sparhawk says.

It's this ability to stretch its material helped land the band a slot at a recent rave in Madison. The trio's shorter numbers, such as "The Plan" and "Over the Ocean," show Parker stretching her vocals to equally unbelievable lengths as Sparhawk and Sally coax elongated measures out of their instruments.

Enlisting Pell Mell keyboardist Steve Fisk as producer and guest player, Low quietly, but assuredly, upped the ante on its tapestry of textures, somnambulant sounds and harmonies.

"We don't know how to play keyboards," Sparhawk says, laughing. "We've messed around with them and anything (Fisk) was playing was because we spent like 15 or 20 minutes trying to play it."

While partnering with Fisk seems much more congruent to Low's objectives than the band's work with noise-monger Steve Albini on the "Transmission" EP, Low is surprisingly willing to exert a variety of influences in its music. That's evident whether the band is covering a Supreme Dicks song, refusing to cave in to the current modern-squall trend, or Sparhawk touring with indie starlet Lois.

This dichotomy also survives in Low's members. Sparhawk and Parker are Mormons and therefore do not play on Sundays. Meanwhile Sally, brought in to replace bassist John Nichols after the group's debut, provides a fresh energy, cracking jokes and talking about his willingness to appear on the macho TV show "Studs."

While the trio likes to retreat to the quiet environs of Duluth and maintains that they really are quite "boring," Low is slowly shoring up fans nationwide with its elixir of ambience, art-rock and slower-than-molasses progressions.