Low (band)
Low was an American indie rock band from Duluth, Minnesota, formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals) and Mimi Parker (drums and vocals). The band was a trio from 1993 to 2020, having featured four different bassists. Low disbanded following the death of Parker in 2022.
Low
Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.
1993–2022
- Alan Sparhawk
- Mimi Parker
- John Nichols
- Zak Sally
- Matt Livingston
- Steve Garrington
- Liz Draper
The music of Low was characterized by slow tempos and minimalist arrangements. Early descriptions sometimes referred to the band's style as a rock subgenre called "slowcore", and Low were often compared to the band Bedhead, who played this style during the early 1990s. However, Low's members ultimately disapproved of the term.[1][2]
Parker and Sparhawk's vocal harmonies represented perhaps the group's most distinctive element; critic Denise Sullivan writes that their shared vocals are "as chilling as anything Gram [Parsons] and Emmylou [Harris] ever conspired on—though that's not to say it's country-tinged, just straight from the heart."[3] Low's style grew experimental over time, gradually incorporating elements of electronica and glitch on later releases, while retaining their minimalist approach.
Commercial success[edit]
The band's mainstream exposure was limited in the early part of their career. The band's version of "The Little Drummer Boy", played as a hymn, was featured in a Gap television ad that depicted a snowball fight in slow-motion to match the song's glacial tempo.
Starting with Things We Lost in the Fire (2001), Low's albums began to appear on sales charts in Europe; starting with The Great Destroyer (2005) they began to chart in the United States as well. A remix of their song "Halflight" was featured in the Mothman Prophecies motion picture in 2002. The band made their network television debut in 2005 by performing the single "California" on an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly. On June 11, 2007, Scott Bateman, a web animator, announced that his video for Low's song "Hatchet (Optimimi version)" would be one of the preloads on the new Microsoft Zune portable media player.[27] That same year they recorded a song called "Family Tree" which featured in the "Careful" episode of the Nick Jr. kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba!
On March 24, 2008, their song "Point of Disgust" was featured in the UK television show Skins, prompting a rush of download sales from iTunes. Another of their songs, "Sunflower", was featured in the following episode (episode 9), and "Breaker" was featured in a later episode. As the music supervisor of Skins declared in the Episode Track Listing section of the show's official website: "You may have guessed by now that we are all pretty huge fans of Low in the Skins office".
The 2008 movie KillShot, starring Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane, features the song "Monkey" early in the film. The 2003 documentary film Tarnation by Jonathan Caouette features the Low tracks "Laser Beam", "Embrace", and "Back Home Again" alongside tracks by artists such as Red House Painters and The Magnetic Fields. "Laser Beam" also featured on episode 4 season 2 of the television show Misfits. Low was the subject of the 2008 documentary Low: You May Need a Murderer.
In 2010, Robert Plant recorded two Low songs from The Great Destroyer, "Monkey" and "Silver Rider", for his album Band of Joy. In an interview, Plant said of The Great Destroyer, "It's great music; it's always been in the house playing away beside Jerry Lee Lewis and Howlin' Wolf, you know. There's room for everything."[28] Buddy Miller, who played guitar on Band of Joy, had worked with Low in the past.
The band were chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in March 2012 in Minehead, England.[29]
Alan Sparhawk
George Alan Sparhawk
June 10, 1968
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.
Musician, singer-songwriter
Vocals, guitar
1993–present
Mimi Jo Parker
September 15, 1967
Bemidji, Minnesota, U.S.[30]
Clearbrook, Minnesota, U.S.
November 5, 2022 (aged 55)
Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.
Musician, singer-songwriter
Vocals, drums
1993–2022
Side projects[edit]
Low founded the record label Chairkickers' Union, which releases their own material as well as work by musicians such as Rivulets and Haley Bonar. Sparhawk is notably active in Duluth's small but vibrant independent music scene; he operates a recording studio in the town, in a deconsecrated church where the acoustics provided the lush reverb which was characteristic of Low's sound. Most of the musicians on the Chairkickers' Union label are based in Duluth and its environs.
Zak Sally has toured as a bassist with Dirty Three, and Sparhawk has devoted considerable time and energy to his Black Eyed Snakes project, a blues-rock revival band which plays a style of music that is dissimilar to that played by Low; in this group, Sparhawk performs under the pseudonym "Chicken-Bone George". Low and the Black-Eyed Snakes have played some of the same songs, including "Lordy". Sparhawk has also played with the Retribution Gospel Choir (RGC). Matt Livingston, who became Low's bassist in late 2005, also played in the RGC. On that band's first tour, which began in fall 2005, the group covered the Low song "From Your Place on Sunset". Songs have also crossed over in the other direction—Low covered the RGC songs "Hatchet" and "Breaker" on their Drums and Guns album.
Sparhawk released his debut solo album Solo Guitar in August 2006. As Hollis M. Sparhawk & Her Father, his track "Thanks 1 2 3 Watch" appeared on the 2002 compilation album "Songs for the End of the World" released by Duluth label Silber Records.[39] Sparhawk contributed the song "Be Nice To People With Lice" to the Paper Bag Records compilation of children's songs See You on the Moon! released in 2006. Vincent Moon filmed Sparhawk playing an acoustic session on the Take-Away Show in 2007.
Sparhawk and Sally have recorded synthesizer-centric songs in the New Wave style under the name The Hospital People. Its most widely distributed record was "Crash / We'll Be Philosophers", released as a 7-inch on clear vinyl by Duck Suit Records. Sparhawk and Sally have also played live as The Tooth Fairies, with Sally performing on drums and Sean Erspamer on bass; Tooth Fairies sets have typically consisted of cover songs by the Stooges, MC5, and similar bands. Sally has done the art for several graphic novels, and he also did the artwork for former Pedro the Lion member David Bazan's first solo release, the EP Fewer Moving Parts (now part of the Barsuk Records catalog). At one time, Mimi Parker was rumored to have started a punk band called Rubbersnake,[40] but this was an inside joke on the part of the band.
In April 2012, Low collaborated with artist Peter Liversidge for a combined performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London.[41] A year later, Low collaborated with Liversidge again for a performance at the Barbican Centre in London.[42]
In 2011, Sparhawk began collaborating with Duluth violinist and vocalist Gaelynn Lea in a band called The Murder of Crows. The duo
plays Lea's originals, instrumentals, and covers, using looping pedals and pared-down arrangements.[43] Their first album, Imperfecta, was released in June 2012.[44]
Sparhawk plays in the Neil Young tribute act Tired Eyes.[45]
In a profile with The New Yorker, Sparhawk revealed that he had completed an album titled White Roses, My God, and shared that the album would be released in fall 2024.[46]
