The Quietus contributor David Ross sits down with Low frontman Alan Sparhawk to talk Double Negative and surviving as a cult band for more than two decades.
“When he sings, you can hear Alan Sparhawk’s voice peal like a church bell, the sound immediately arriving in the middle of your head. When he talks, he’s a mumbler, prone to tailing off and leaving long silences that you don’t feel you should fill in case you scare him into clamming up completely. Our conversation, in a skyline-view hotel bar in central London, is equal parts light and dark, practical and ethereal, convivial and serious – an ambivalence that is on full display on Low’s new album (their 11th), Ones And Sixes.
“This is Low at their most challenging, their least sweetly palatable and their optimum effectiveness. Compared to a previous double-header of unashamedly melodic records (C’Mon and The Invisible Way), there are scant and precious moments of relief, making their discovery all the more rewarding. As the band’s sound has moved from sparse duets through muscular, taut musical statements, one thing has remained a constant – Sparhawk and his wife, Mimi Parker. They are one of the greatest vocal harmony combinations in modern music (diagrams can be provided for anyone who opposes this indisputable maxim), musical orators with impeccable clarity. So when they muddy the message with complex, intrusive noise and wilful musical difficulty, well, Ones And Sixes becomes a far more complicated beast – the secrets of which Sparhawk is keen to preserve for as long as possible.”
Listen to new album standout ‘Dancing and Blood’ below and learn more about the band’s Rewire 2019 performance at Low.
Get your Rewire 2019 Festival pass at Tickets.