Low: Classic or classic?

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.

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.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, November 7, 2022 8:41 PM (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i know this isn't the right time for this, but you know what? this cult nearly killed me, so i'll just point out there is a lot wrong with this kind of sentiment and it does real damage to people. silence and complicity kills, and it is picking a side. i have a lot of sympathy for what was by all accounts an honest grappling with the religion, but i don't think they were able to make the right choice in the end, and that to me is really tragic. i won't go into why it invalidates the band's work for me as it feels entirely too personal to defend, it just is what it is.

anyway, a sad loss and my condolences to fans and loved ones.

I don't know what to say other than its heartbreaking, can't believe she's gone. For someone that didn't even necessarily think of herself as a drummer, she was so iconic and influential. I thought about her all the time when I needed to play minimally and try and really get to the heart of the music.

I got to see them a number of times but the most memorable was probably in 2014 at a tiny barn venue in Spring Green, WI. They seemed a little off balance playing a space that intimate at that point in their career but it was amazing to see, I especially remember Nothing But Heart and Mimi singing the Rihanna cover. I got to talk to her for a little while afterwards and of course she was kind.

I can't go back and listen to it now but this interview is worth hearing if you haven't:
https://www.thetrapset.net/128-mimi-parker-low/

Ah yes, choosing a Black lesbian fronted doom-metal band that speaks directly against racism, xenophobia, transphobia, and homophobia for openers on their last tour is "silent complicity." You don't know what you're talking about except your own experience with the LDS— your experience is yours, not theirs, so maybe come off it, map.

Nevermind their own advocacy for stances that go directly against much LDS orthodoxy.

hey table, i might be available to chat about this off board some time if you're interested. i will say that though my discomfort and general feeling of being "uninvited" when it comes to the band's work is informed by personal trauma, i've given it some thought over the years and i feel like the reasoning for it is pretty sound. i get that rolling into an rip thread with all this is not great and i truly offer my condolences for grievers. really, it was just josh in chicago's post i wanted to push back on. it's a really toxic kind of sentiment that i just couldn't shy away from addressing a little bit. the lds church doesn't work like that. if you're paying tithing, you're very very much pushing it on everyone else. if you aren't paying tithing, you aren't a member of the church. that's just how it works.

Maynard from Tool:

This is crushing news from Alan, @lowtheband. Although I've never met them, Mimi and Alan have been a huge influence on my writing approach w regards to pace, space, and harmony. A few years ago right after Bowie, Lemmy, and Alan Rickman died, I began writing letters, 12 at a time, to strangers who have had a huge influence on me. This was in reaction to the outpouring of love I was reading that these dead artists would never hear. I chose to write and send those words of appreciation, along w some wine and gifts to my guides while they could still read them. Mimi and Alan were on that next round of 12 letters, and had been for about 6 months. And I fucking waited too long. I was literally going to ask mgt to track down a good address for them this weekend. I had no idea she was sick. This puts an added sting to my procrastination. The song I was listening to on loop yesterday was Congregation. My point I suppose is Do Not Wait. Life Is Too Short. Say the Words. Send the Letter. Make the Call. Also- Do yourself a favor and dig deep on the @lowtheband catalog. Things We Lost in the Fire is a good place to start. Alan, @puscifer will be dedicating Horizons and A Singularity to Mimi the next few days while we play our way through Canada. So sorry for your loss.

I understand the way the church works, and I also understand that people are complex and can hold a lot of conflicting opinions, beliefs, and actions. I understand why you can't cotton that in regards to this band, and I am sorry for your experience, but it doesn't have much to do with what's going on right now— people mourning the sort of voice and the sort of band that only comes around once in a generation.

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

i agree with that, thanks for the note of understanding.

Trying to be gentler— sorry if my initial pushback was a little stern. <3

I listened to "The Invisible Way" all the way through for the first time in many years today, and I admit that it is much better than I have given it credit for upthread. Certainly not their best record, but one thing in particular stands out about it: Mimi sounds *amazing* on it, Tweedy really did the power of her voice justice. "So Blue" is incredible.

Yeah, that's a great Mimi record. I think of 'Just Make It Stop' as a signature Mimi song.

as far as lists go, it's probably their 'worst' record which is saying something because it's very good. Not many bands have more consistent catalogues.

Beautiful take from Greg Kot here:

I can't think of a band I loved more than Low since they released their first album in 1994. It's tragic that Mimi Parker -- a mom, a wife and a quiet powerhouse of musical creativity -- is gone so soon, but she and her band have given us a trove of great recordings that feel timeless, as are the memories we hold of their one-of-a-kind concerts.
In addition to being a remarkable singer, Mimi was a sensitive and nuanced drummer. I focused on that part of her massive contribution to Low's music in this review of Low at Metro in 2002: "Parker stood behind the kind of drum kit a novice might reject for its lack of potential: a snare, tom-tom and lone cymbal. A tambourine represented her sole extravagance. Yet with deft application of mallets and brushes she painted portraits of an interior world beyond words: What sound does the snow make when it falls? A child when it sleeps? A drowning man at peace with his fate?"

How did their collaboration as songwriters work? The credits just read Low, but who tended to write most of the lyrics and music?

some of their publishing credits do give a bit more detail than the liner notes - there's plenty of songs credited to just one or the other, plenty credited to both, also some with whoever the bassist at the time was. my impression from that is that alan seemed to write more than mimi did but overall they were both bringing a lot to the table and actively collaborating.