Can you hear me? Low is just where this trio wants to be

Mikel Toombs, San Diego Union-Tribune. April 19, 2001

In all ways but one, the rock trio Low appears to live up (down?) to its name.

Founded and still based in Duluth, Minn., Low mostly keeps a low profile -- although Hollis, the 13-month-old daughter of singer-guitarist Alan Sparhawk and singer-drummer Mimi Parker, is already a veteran of two European tours. (For an upcoming mini-tour of Japan, Hollis will likely be left with family.)

The band is decidedly low-budget, with the musicians performing their own setup and curtain-pulling here at the Midnite Sun Performers Space. Low has upgraded its equipment a bit, with Parker adding another drum to her minimal snare and cymbal arrangement.

Low also shows moments of low memory, calmly debating how a couple of songs should go, and low-key humor: Sparhawk noted with satisfaction that metal band Staind's new single ("It's Been Awhile") was "mellow," a comment that drew perplexed reactions from both the audience and his fellow band members.

The description also could fit Low's music, which is famously slow and low in volume. And yet the trio's songs are subtle enough that they demand, and command, a high level of attention. Indeed, the packed house at Midnite Sun, an all-ages venue about the size of the original Casbah, listened in rapt fascination throughout Low's hour-long set. (Low plays Saturday at the current Casbah.)

"With the stuff we're doing, I think the listener is going to get more out of it if the environment is quiet," Sparhawk said. "We've never been real big on fighting with the audience. We don't demand it, but if people are quiet, it's going to be a better show."

Low had its quiet beginnings in the early '90s, with married couple Sparhawk and Parker teaming with John Nichols, who was replaced in 1995 by current bassist Zak Salley. The musicians, more influenced by the early-'80s British post-punk band Joy Division and that brood, were dismayed at the lack of musical options in Duluth, "seeing everyone in general jumping on this bandwagon of, 'Hooray! Alternative, punk-rock, whatever is the big thing now,' and being surrounded by people who didn't appreciate the music until after Nirvana," Sparhawk said.

"And (I was) thinking, that's fine. Those people can do that. I have an interest in something that's a little bit different here, so I'll try this. I like a lot of that stuff -- I probably listen to loud music more than I listen to quiet music -- but it was just the feeling that I wanted to do something that was different."

Low's slow road to success has led now to "Things We Lost in the Fire," released on the independent Chicago label Kranky. Combining artful musical textures and thoughtful, intimate lyrics, "Things We Lost" invokes comparison to "The Velvet Underground," the remarkably subdued third album by the classic American band better remembered for the more provocative likes of "Heroin" and "Sweet Jane."

"Definitely, they were an influence. I was a big fan," Sparhawk said. "Once I came across that third (album), just kind of the mellowness of it, it was the last straw."

Low has been moving in a more accessible direction of late, even recording a holiday mini-album ("Christmas") that counts among its fans Sparhawk (it's the only Low album he listens to) and at least one advertising agency; Low's version of "Little Drummer Boy" was featured in a Gap ad.

"We've always tried to deal with personal, intimate subjects-slash-atmosphere. I think we're just getting a little more bold, a little more direct with that now," Sparhawk said. "If we were distant in the past, it's only because we were being a little more cryptic and a little reserved."