The Invisible Way
The decision to record *The Invisible Way* at Jeff Tweedy\'s Chicago studio helped ensnare Tweedy for the producer role and make this album the most singer/songwriter–like album of Low\'s slo-core career. Mimi Parker handles five lead vocals (previously unheard of), with \"Waiting\" giving longtime fans an idea of what Americana ballads would sound like done the Low way. Of course, the Low way in 2013 is but a distant non-echo of the band\'s heavily reverbed past, where the beauty was in the mystic tones that sounded as if they were bouncing off of a cathedral\'s walls. Low\'s songs have been slowly rising to the surface with instrumental and vocal parts more clearly defined, but never quite like this. \"Clarence White\" could be a tribute to the former Byrds member, but the lyrics suggest something less quantifiable. \"So Blue\" actually threatens to *cruise* before the band falls away to better expose the harmonies. \"Just Make It Stop\" sounds like an AM radio piano-based pop tune. \"Holy Ghost\" mixes gospel and the blues as only Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker can design it.
We here at Sub Pop are honored to have our name attached to The Invisible Way, Low’s tenth album in 20 years as a band. Rather than put together our own, inevitably-inadequate description of the album, we will let Low’s Alan Sparhawk do the talking: “While driving though Chicago, on tour, we stopped finally to visit Wilco at their studio, The Loft. They had invited us to come check it out several times over the years, but this would finally be the day. It’s a great place—a sea of instruments in a relaxed, open working environment. It’s cool, but what really converted us was hearing the new Mavis Staples tracks they were working on: big, simple, raw, and intimate. Plans were made then and there. ’Don’t break my Grammy streak.’ We have worked with many of the great engineer/producers. Jeff Tweedy has been on our side of the microphone for over 25 years, however with engineer (and fellow Grammy winner) Tom Schick, he has of late become a formidable and eclectic producer. He spoke a language we understood, but then took us effortlessly into the mystery. We’ve made many records, and you know our M.O.: slow, quiet, sometimes melancholy, and, we hope, sometimes pretty… How is this different from any other Low record? - Mimi sings lead on five of the eleven songs (she usually only does one or two, despite being a fan favorite). - Piano, lots of piano… and an acoustic guitar. - Songs about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archeology, and love. Thank you for your time again and please enjoy what we made. I think it’s beautiful.”
Jeff Tweedy produced the Duluth band's tenth studio album, placing an emphasis on the drama that distinguishes it from previous Low efforts. Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker sound like true equals here, as their writing, singing, and playing complement one another vividly.
The passage of time seems to be on Alan Sparhawk’s mind. On “Plastic Cup”—which opens Low’s 10th album, The Invisible Way—the singer-guitarist imagines a far-flung future where archeologists are digging up the ruins of America. They unearth a plastic cup once used to take a piss test and wonder if it might have been…
Here Low have taken us back to a time of beautiful, soulful hymns, hand in paradoxical hand with a gothic, ancient fear.
Having cemented their signature sound around the turn of the century, Low has spent the last decade branching out from it.
An institution of slowcore, one of indie rock's more bittersweet subsets, Low began making huge and haunted sounds out of the most minimal means in the early '90s.
Gradual change is rare for most groups, but Duluth, MN trio Low has morphed from a slowcore band into a folk-tinged rock outfit over its 20 years of existence.
Slowcore trio Low's 10th album adds subtle variations to a winning formula, writes <strong>Ally Carnwath</strong>
The Invisible Way relies too heavily on its production and instrumentation to do the heavy lifting.
America’s musical kin and their own past shade the 10th album from the quietly intense Minnesotans. CD review by Kieron Tyler