Low Finds Niche In 'Less Is More'

Trio makes first visit to Fayetteville to play at JR's

Amy Graves, Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. January 12, 2001

All my life, my mother told me that “less is more.” The band Low seems to have taken that phrase to heart; the musicians have built quite a following over the past eight years by writing and performing “quiet” music. The soaring vocals layered over sparse instrumentation require a quiet audience. Expect hushes from fans in the crowd when Low performs at 10 p.m. Thursday at JR’s Lightbulb Club in Fayetteville.

The trio, consisting of Alan Sparhawk on guitar and vocals, Mimi Parker on drums and vocals, and Zak Sally on bass, has a new album coming out in February. “Things We Lost in the Fire” (Kranky Records, 2001) will be available for purchase at the JR’s show.

“Things We Lost in the Fire” is the second full-length album Low has recorded with the help of Steve Albini, a producer better known for his work with bands like Nirvana and Bush. Sparhawk, reached by phone at the home in Duluth, Minn., that he shares with his wife, Parker, said, “It was interesting to see what ‘Mr. Punk Rock’ would do with the slowest, quietest rock band in the world.”

He said the collaboration worked out well.

In addition to the new album, Low had a brush with fame, so to speak. It was the band’s version of “Little Drummer Boy” that was heard playing on the Christmas Gap ad with the sweater-clad snowball fighters.

Sparhawk said that hearing Low’s song on the Gap ad was weird. “It was strange seeing the ad the first time. I was sitting there, and 8 million people were listening to my voice at that very moment.”

As far as commercials go, Sparhawk said the ad was about as tolerable an any commercial can be. He added, “We set aside our punk-rock ethic for a moment for the mighty Gap.”

This willingness could be due in no small part to Low’s newest addition, 10-month-old Hollis. She is the daughter of Alan and Mimi, and she has had a profound effect on the band. Sparhawk said, “We have to be a little more organized. Babies need to go to bed at 8 or 9. We have to arrange for hotel rooms now. And you never know where you’ll be when she needs a nap.”

He said her birth also meant band members were a little more excited when Gap called.

Many of the songs on the new album were inspired by Hollis’ arrival.

Sparhawk explained, “We wrote the record early last year, after she was born. This record has a little more, we’re letting life explode a little bit.”

Low has never performed in Arkansas before, and this tour takes the band only to Fayetteville — quite a coup for a town that is accustomed to being bypassed in favor of the state capital.

Wade Ogle, booking manager at JR’s, is a self-professed Low fan and has been working to get the band here for months. In the end, it worked out pretty easily. Ogle said, “One of the agents at the Billions Corporation (a booking agency/management company based in Chicago that represents the likes of Man or Astroman?, Low, Blond Redhead, Pavement, Nick Cave, and many more) wanted me to book a Man or Astroman? show, and I said I’d love to, but when do I get Low?”

So Low’s agent at Billions booked JR’s for the first show of the band’s new tour. Ogle hopes that Low will now always play JR’s while touring the Midwest.

Shannon Wright is opening. She is touring in support of her new album “Maps of Tacit” (Quarterstick Records, 2000). Parts of the album were recorded at Man or Astroman’s new studio, Zero Return, and the rest of the album was recorded with Steve Albini.

Doors open at 9 p.m., and this show is open to anyone 19 years of age or up. Cover is $8. For more information on Low, check out www.chairkickers.com on the World Wide Web. For basic show information, call JR’s at [REDACTED].