Low: Classic or classic?

Beautiful post.

I don’t have the proximity, nor did I know them beyond promoting a couple of their shows in AZ circa 99/00. But I still feel a closeness to them that I don’t necessarily feel with others.

Unlike other long-loved bands it’s not simply a matter of saying that I grew up with them—I was 17 when I first heard them, I’m 45 now. But also, they grew up with me. As a fan I remember learning about the birth of Hollis—they put her on Songs for a Dead Pilot and sang about her on Things We Lost in the Fire. Knowing their kids are grown (but not grown enough to lose their mom), is a testament to how amazing Low were are inviting you into their intimacy. And also why this is so heartbreaking.

Low have a lot of songs about parenthood, and motherhood in particular. They were writing them well before they had kids and many are some of their most brutal songs. As I’ve grown in my own life those are some of the songs that have stuck with me the most. Their meaning has mutated as I’ve had my own kids and also watched from afar as Low built their own family.

I’ve also talked in this thread before about the way so much of C’mon hits me. If you take it as the aftermath of everything laid out in the “Murderer” documentary, then a lot of Mimi’s songs read like documents of loyalty and hope—lifelines to her husband when he was in a dark place. That album really sticks with me.

The real trick of Low—the thing that sets them apart from every other band who has tried to exist within the genre they helped to create—was that Alan and Mimi had a closeness that could not be replicated by others. Every mundane detail of their whole lives was imbued in their songs. All the unsaid experiences and feelings that lay under their words and music elevated their songs to a profound level. This was the magical ingredient, their lifelong love and shared moments going all the way back to their childhoods—that freed them from every aesthetic constraint they applied to their music. The beauty of low was not their pace or their volume but their beauty and their deep understanding of each other. It transcends everything.

RIP. I have no words right now. Totally gutted.

i knew when i saw all the posts but hoped i was wrong...

the worst news. devastated.

Such terrible news, I hadn't heard about her diagnosis. What a voice and a presence on stage. RIP.

Ah shit no. Thanks for your post UMS. What a band.

Such incredibly sad news, <3 to you all. I was never really a full-on fan, but I cherish the albums I cherish and admired the fearlessness of how they moved in whatever direction they wanted. The thing I always loved most about them was hearing their voices together—I'm listening to "Two Step" right now and it's devastating

I was talking with my husband about it— they really changed the direction of my life. I saw them on my 18th birthday when I was visiting the college I ended up going to, and I still remember just being absolutely blown away by their music. They were one of the reasons I made the decision I did re: school, if I’m being honest— I’d never heard anything like them before, and I figured if they were playing there, then a lot of other amazing music was coming through, too, probably.

So many memories: of listening to “Trust” on headphones while riding miles and miles through cornfields on my bicycle. Being depressed and high on painkillers and blasting “Curtain Hits the Cast” on repeat. Driving around on snowy days listening to all the rarities. Seeing them on this past tour in March and breaking into tears when they started “Two-Step.”

My favorite band, always.

Nothing to add to the great posts by ums and pgwp, Low have always been one of those rare bands who avoided the traditional descent into creative obsolescence. I saw them in the mid-90s supporting Come in London at a shitty rock dive venue, the more the audience talked over them the quieter they played, which was a victory of sorts. RIP Mimi and good thoughts to everyone who knew them and/or their music.

This is devastating news :(

:(((

Alan once said Mimi singing his words was like breathing life into a corpse, which is a bit of an unfortunate turn of phrase at this point but I think speaks for how much she brought to their creative partnership. An unimaginable loss.

I've met alan a number of times and played a few shows with him/retribution gospel choir, he's a sweetheart and I hope he will be ok through all of this.

Heartbreaking news, i had no idea Mimi was sick and find that hard to reconcile with the incredibly beautiful, intense and just plain long show i saw them play in Brighton just six months ago. They had then, as ever, the most magical, haunting chemistry.

I've met alan a number of times and played a few shows with him/retribution gospel choir, he's a sweetheart and I hope he will be ok through all of this.

Awful news. What a legacy she created, right up to the very end.

it wasn't hard to see this coming but i really hoped it wouldn't, absolutely devastating news

they were really as good as bands get, a nearly-unmatched creative output and it feels especially tragic when they were still reaching new peaks. mimi's presence was incomparable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Enxzh-O9Y

all the love in the world to alan

yes, if hugs over the internet worked I would send them

This one hurts

Shocking to hear this, even though I feared it was coming. A devastating loss, RIP

Spent the day listening through the Low discography while raking leaves and trying to keep it together

The genius of Alan and Mimi’s partnership can’t really be overstated

My personal connection with this music aside this is just an enormous loss for music as a whole

Thanks ums and pgwp and table for your posts today

Truly gutted

Brutally tragic. A band and musician who expanded how I think about music.

pgwp's great post made something occur to me, even early, and even that they were only slightly older than the kids in the audience, they always seemed like a band of adults

Yeah, there's a truth there. Realizing they were only a couple of years older than me seems a bit weird to think about when it came to the night they crashed at my place as I mention above. I didn't think they were massively older, but there was a gentle gravitas.

Alan once said Mimi singing his words was like breathing life into a corpse, which is a bit of an unfortunate turn of phrase at this point but I think speaks for how much she brought to their creative partnership. An unimaginable loss.

― "Spaghetti" Thompson (Pheeel), Sunday, 6 November 2022 20:05 (yesterday) link

her vocals were the angelic balance to their songs. devastated for the family's loss.

recommend the Optimimi version of "Hatchet" for some sweetness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVapgSxZcow

"we'll call it starfire, who will know?"

</3

The real trick of Low—the thing that sets them apart from every other band who has tried to exist within the genre they helped to create—was that Alan and Mimi had a closeness that could not be replicated by others. Every mundane detail of their whole lives was imbued in their songs. All the unsaid experiences and feelings that lay under their words and music elevated their songs to a profound level. This was the magical ingredient, their lifelong love and shared moments going all the way back to their childhoods—that freed them from every aesthetic constraint they applied to their music. The beauty of low was not their pace or their volume but their beauty and their deep understanding of each other. It transcends everything.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 6 November 2022 18:43 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

otm

Presumably Low cannot now continue in any form but I hope Sparhawk finds it within himself to make new music one day. How did their collaboration as songwriters work? The credits just read Low, but who tended to write most of the lyrics and music?

Alan's had a few side-projects, so I imagine he will/must keep working. But I can't imagine him ever revisiting Low again. Which is incredible to even think about.

He's been doing his Tired Eyes Neil Young tribute band, well it's more Rich Mattson's (a local guy from the Glenrustles) band but they do it together

I actually have a ticket to see Derecho, the band he's been doing with a couple local musicians and his son Cyrus, on December 1. I expect it probably won't happen but who knows? It's more of a funky, danceable thing, very 70s r&b

feels like Black Eyed Snakes never really breaks up just comes and goes, I know they did some shows a couple summers ago

don't know the status of Retribution Gospel Choir but that felt way less casual than the others and I wonder if that's just done

He was also in a Velvet Underground tribute band at some point in the not-too-distant past.

I was reading an interview someone clipped on twitter yesterday which basically said Mimi helped Alan rein it in and not go too far overboard. I do think we will still continue to get great music from him and at the same time it will never approximate Low again.

Tragic, awful news. Ugh.

Audio's a little muddy here, but nice tribute from Robert Plant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SawQl67koxo

i love plant and krauss's versions of those two low songs, lovely. plant is such a class act, someone who just really loves music.

You know you've made an incredible impact when Robert Plant pauses the show to pay tribute to you.

i really wish i had gone to that robert plant show, which was about a minute's walk from my house, but sadly my finger is patently very off the plant pulse as i didn't know it was on.

have been listening to low all day.

You know you've made an incredible impact when Robert Plant pauses the show to pay tribute to you.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, November 7, 2022 10:16 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

was thinking the same thing
Plant is definitely the coolest of the old classic rock dudes

Friends. Your love is perfect and overwhelming. Spread it. Thank you.

Funeral will be this Thursday likely at 1 pm at the LDS church in Duluth. All are welcome and we indeed invite you.

Peace and love. Equal rights and justice, too, but peace and love through and through.

— LOW (@lowtheband) November 7, 2022

xpost So he is and remains. The standard I always use is that most of his peers seemed to just reference each others' work or their increasingly distant youthful inspirations when it came to the 'so what are you listening to these days' questions in interviews in the 80s and 90s and Plant was always talking about Arabic singers or Swans or This Mortal Coil or obscure rockabilly or something else again.

So that tribute doesn't surprise me. He knows from quality.

And of course he recorded those two Low songs a few albums back, too.

Yup

i love plant and krauss's versions of those two low songs, lovely. plant is such a class act, someone who just really loves music.

Maybe Krauss plays them with him live these days, but I thought Patty Griffin sang on the studio versions of those Low covers.

I think that's right. It was the Band of Joy album, right?

from zak sally

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkoTOy5PAs2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

xpost - yeah, that was the one!

another thing I'll say about Alan and Mimi: I don't know either of them (I've interacted with Alan a bit in person and online and via email), but I know a lot of people who do, and it says something that, as people who have worked in what is a basically thankless industry for almost 30 years, with plenty of opportunity and justification to beef with others, that Alan and Mimi are universally loved. Quite a few years ago when Eitzel was going to go on tour with them he expressed some hesitation given that he was still in his cups at the time, didn't know them, was a little worried about hitting the road with Mormons; I introduced him to a friend of mine who had toured with them to assuage those concerns. Right now I don't know that I can think of a single other group in my circle of friends and acquaintances about whom no one has a grievance.

They seemed to draw great strength from their faith without even remotely pushing it on anybody else, or even necessarily promoting it. That's a rare thing.

Well said:

https://slate.com/culture/2022/11/mimi-parker-of-low-dies-how-the-drummer-worked-with-husband-alan-sparhawk-to-make-art.html

The tour that Eitzel did with them was, I think, the first tour on which I saw them, the show that altered my life and perceptions of music.