The Great Destroyer

One of the things I have been listening to is the most recent Low album, "The Great Destroyer." I listened to Low some when I was in college and have a few of their LPs, but never really got that into them. I don't have much of a tolerance for slow music, which of course can be a problem if you want to listen to Low. "TGD" came out last year and is differnt than their previous records. Obviously the tempos are brisker and the sound is full and loud (the album was produced by David Friedmann. The production is closer to the new Sleater-Kinny record than the Flaming Lips--very overdriven and harsh rather than warlby and wispy.) but there is something else that separatest he album from its predecessors. The songs are more upbeat and melodic but the album as a whole seems much darker. Whereas their prior LPs sounded dark and brooding, the minimal arrangements and the slow tempos gave the songs some room for the light to shine through, but here every nook is filled with a rumbling sound. The speakers seem to be blowing out constantly. On the first song they sing, "We'll never make the light/but that's alright" and somehow rather than sounding mundane and innocuous the line rings with tension--the spirit of teenage alienation and self-destruction; the sound of an unhappy couple driving themselves into the ground; the detached air of someone who doesn't care whether their life is in danger or not. I think Pitchfork panned the song "California" in their little singles reviewing column, but it is the best one on the album--beautiful, catchy and heartbreaking.

I like this record alot.