Low - SPIN's review of Things We Lost In The Fire
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Low, "Things We Lost In The Fire" (Kranky)

from Spin

File under: Mormon Lullabies

It's dark, still, three hours after waking. It's cold, icy and the walking's treacherous. The weather's so miserable that it saps any motivation you might have. It's the dog days of post-Christmas winter and nothing more appropriately scores them then the spectral lullabies of Low. Sung over hospital beds, whispered in intimate moments between lovers or surgically implanted in your brain on the ninth cigarette of the afternoon, the songs of this long running Minnesota trio are refined and expertly controlled. Six albums in, the sheer visceral experience of the group alone is worth repeated listens, not to mention a good bit of slack-jawed fanaticism. Low has galloped away from the post-Galaxie 500 reverb tokes of its first few releases, developing into something so basic and powerful it can only be described as elemental. Things We Lost In the Fire finds the group at the height of its powers - on the stunning eulogy "Sunflower" and the swelling "In Metal" the band uses minimal planks of melody to erect awe-inspiring monuments. And in the presence of the string-laden "Like a Forest," or "Dinosaur Act"'s clanging memories of childhood, even the most frosty, cynical, sleet-battered heart will surely melt.

- Chris Ryan (cryan33@hotmail.com)

 

Things We Lost in the Fire on Amazon.com