SomeAngryIndian

Low feat. Loney, Dear at Webster Hall

Hey. The story with Low begins sometime in 2003. I was feverishly following Radiohead’s HTTT tour and read that Low was opening for them. It turns out that Low was only opening in the beginning of the tour, and we were all the way at the end (at the last performance anywhere - 10.10.03) and we were getting Supergrass, a band I care about a lot less now. In any case, I opted to listen to tons of Supergrass and put away any Low I was going to tune into.

Turns out that was a big mistakes because Supergrass couldn’t make it and wouldn’t you know - Low came to the rescue.

I went to the best concert I’ve ever gone to with a good friend of mine who, for a long time, was with me for every concert I ever went to. We sat in our balcony seats talking about our past and our future, pausing only to listen to Dinosaur Act and Like a Forest.

Radiohead’s performance obliterated anything else. So my interest in Low was slow in coming. I picked up Things We Lost in the Fire though, and began to fall in love with the most obvious songs first, as usual. Dinosaur Act and Like a Forest were the standouts. But I had my mind on Sunflower, the startling first track. To this day, it’s my favorite Low song. I remember arguing with that same friend and another old friend (yes this sort of tale-telling can get confusing but I try to stay away from names because well this blog, in case no one figured out, has no ads and is a personal deal and if you’re reading I only care if you know who those people are if you are those people so tough) and in any case, I made the case that Sunflower was (at least) the second best song (being Like a Forest) in the back of my friend’s jeep during a cross-island caravan to support gay marriage in New York. We all went silent and gave it a good listen.
“Yeah.”

I didn’t listen to Low for a long time. They were winter music and I wanted to be in the spring of life. Silly. Because looking back at that caravan, though the rest of the day was filled with Sgt. Pepperesque jubilation, Low was merely a more somber reflection of that celebration of humanity.

I came by Low by accident again last summer. I had bought tickets for Iron & Wine a couple months before the date and in the meanwhile Low and Califone had joined in. Well, shit. That’s f’in great. Nevermind that the venue I saw it in was an empty graffitied pool deep in Brooklyn on a sunny August day.

They performed Sunflower. Imagine my luck. From that day, I wanted to listen to Low a lot more.

I picked up their (then) last album, The Great Destroyer. Despite Pitchfork’s bitching. I found it to be a more up-tempo (though not up-beat) record. Overall, it’s an exciting listen. The polar opposite of Fire. Not equivalent in beauty, but they’ve compared in the amount of times I’ve spun them. California is the poppiest Low has ever been and they do it right by themselves, it’s very bittersweet. And though Low never reaches the same depths of raw beauty that they did on Fire, songs like Pissing, On the Edge Of, and When I Go Deaf try their best.

The same goes for their latest album, Drums and Guns, an album which runs from the quiet dignity of Fire to the effulgence of Destroyer and also brings some new things. The album, as you can ascertain, is very big on percussion. I almost want to call it industrial. In any case, a lot of bands are trying their hand at an “anti-war” album. Low’s doesn’t beat you over the head. It actually complicates the ideas of war. Pretty People throws death in your face from the start but songs like the single Breaker and Sandinista then lament the state of violence in our culture. Dragonfly runs in the same vein lyrically as The F’Lips’ The Spark That Bled, a song about a misguided feeling of spiritual oneness. The albums veers into personal territory (in my opinion, the weakest part of the album, though not that much weaker) before finally reaching its thematic climax in the final three songs: In Silence, Murderer, and Violent Past. In Silence is a plea to move on from a world that tries to divide us and make us hate one another. Murderer is a gorgeous song about someone asking God if he needs a murderer to do his “dirty work.” I see it from a Miltonian perspective, as Satan speaking to God before the fall. Did God agree? Does God need a murderer, meaning, is all this violence with purpose? The question is left there. Violent Past presents two natural ways to deal with this confusing world: fight or flight. Ironically, either one is violence. It seems to perpetuate itself. This sort of realistic interpretation is very true to Low’s sound. It also makes for a deep, rewarding album.
Before I heard the new album I bought tickets for their show at Webster. I knew the whole concert hinged on whether I liked this album or not. Why? Because, as I expected, they ended up playing most of it.

Now for the actual concert review:

The opening band is a Swedish outfit called Loney, Dear. I gave a listen to their album Loney, Noir. I was impressed by key tracks I Am John and Sinister in a State of Hope but thought their sound wouldn’t last me an entire album’s length.

I expected a pretty good opening from them. I thought I’d nod my head along and clap for I Am John, which is stuck in my head. But then they began to play.

I was blown away by their energy and craftsmanship. The vocals were pitch-perfect with the album. Throughout their album, there were small veins of power surrounded by a Swedish joy and bounciness but live, those veins fucking exploded all over us. Everyone was singing, falsettos thrown everywhere, tambourines, and jangly guitars. Plus the girl on the keyboards was f’in cute! Every time she sang she had this big smile on her face like she wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world and how could you not love that?

I Am John was what we the audience was screaming for and they waited a few songs before it came but man. It’s the kind of song that’s good as it starts but when you listen all the way through it becomes great. I don’t mean the end has a big payoff. It’s just, well. Give it a listen.

Loney, Dear is a great fucking live band. I don’t understand how that can be considering they have only one album, but I want to see them again. The synth guy said they’re going to Boston but they’ll be back here soon. So hey.

Onto Low. They broke out with a Destroyer song, Cue the Strings. The first half of their set was clearly planned out, and we were treated to such songs as Embrace, Belarus, Sandinista, and Dragonfly. But the best part, no doubt, was Like a Forest.

I don’t think I wrote about Radiohead in Boston here. But there was a point in the concert where I was crying very much. Bawling, really. I’ve only cried once before that during a concert and that was Iron & Wine (also at Webster) when they played Upward Over the Mountain.

I didn’t cry at Low. But when they played Like a Forest I had this big fat smile on my face. I couldn’t take it. Why was I feeling so happy?

Low can be seen as a depressing band but live they have this charisma, this humanity they bring to the music. Somber songs on the album become a celebration of life. Like a Forest, despite his dire lyrics, was incredibly powerful and uplifting. Cathartic in a cheerful way. Though if I were in the same place I was last June I might have cried.

The second half of the set was completely ad-libbed. Alan Sparhawk, lead singer, guitarist, and Mormon, spoke to us and even asked for requests to fill the second half! My screams of WHORE and, later, PARANOID ANDROID were, alas, to no avail. But they went on to play my two favorite songs from Destroyer: Pissing and When I Go Deaf. WIGD features a kickass whammy-bar solo at the end and shit went fucking crazy. Celebration of sound man. And of course, they played In Silence, Murderer, and Violent Past. Which were gorgeous and affecting and omgness.

I’m finishing this review. The concert opened awesomely. Low kicked my ass. I was incredibly happy with both the setlist and their performance ran from chilling, haunting, and everything you’d expect from Low to warm, friendly, by the fireside chattery, and everything you’d not expect. It was all sides of goodness and joy and fuck.

The next time Low is in town you’ll be sure I’ll have my ass there. I mean, this shit was $20.

I know I’ve been slow on updates but there’ll be an assload of concert reviews (D-Plan in three weeks!) and some commentary on the state of music and maybe a hobo fight or two!

Thanks for reading, Rohit.