Comprised of guitarist Alan Sparhawk and drummer Mimi Parker, indie rock minimalists Low have been enchanting fans with their vocal interplay and drop dead gorgeous musical arrangements since the early 1990s. Up until relatively recently though, their formula remained largely unchanged, until their 2015 album Ones And Sixes signalled a significant change in direction as they incorporated new sounds and began working with producer BJ Burton. 

That process has now led to a situation where there’s an elephant in the room when it comes to discussing the release of the duo’s new album Hey What. And curiously, that elephant in the room is the new album’s predecessor: 2018’s Double Negative, an LP so widely lauded that it stands out as a career defining album for a band who were already in their third decade together when it dropped. That record’s digital tapestry and distortion have lingered, shaping this new release with the same wonder that made Double Negative such a success.

Pulsating opener White Horses serves as a statement of instant intent, a sort of assurance that Hey What has been forged in the same embers that Ones And Sixes and Double Negative were. Burton again produces, and that feeling only intensifies as the record reveals itself. Disappearing is tense and claustrophobic, Days Like These drips with the richness of it’s vocal work, There’s A Comma After Still is a full on sonic assault, and closing effort The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off) is the sort of track that refuses to be classified.  

It’s exhilarating to hear a band such as Low, who all but perfected the art of the stripped back, harmony-led indie rock number, shake off their past and take their sound in such bold new directions. It’s no surprise they’ve made such a success of such a reinvention, but it’s still a delight to discover they’re pressing on, creating wonderful new music almost thirty years after we first fell in love with them. 

Hey What tracklist:

1. White Horses
2. I Can Wait
3. All Night
4. Disappearing
5. Hey
6. Days Like These
7. There’s A Comma After Still
8. Don’t Walk Away
9. More
10. The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.