Low - The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop, 2005)

Low
The Great Destroyer
Sub Pop
2005

Rating: 7 homemade bar stools out of 10

There has been a lot of talk about this Low record – that it is different, maybe poppier – and this is mostly true, but don’t automatically take that to be a bad thing; it still sounds like a Low album, but maybe a little “shinier” than before. With Dave Fridmann of Mercury Rev manning the decks and even contributing to the record, it certainly seems that the production has jumped up a notch - overall the album seems much denser and crisper than previous Low releases. There are a lot of catchy songs on this CD: new tracks “California” and “Step” were instantly all-time favorites of the band’s catalog. And while nothing on here resembles a pop song as it’s classically understood, compared to the band’s historical albums it would certainly register as a more “upbeat” record, at least as far as tempo is concerned (the lyrics aren’t going to talk you down off that ledge if you are intent on jumping). I would be surprised if any diehard Low fans are turned off by this, because it is truly a great release, and as a whole not that terribly different than one might expect going in after reading the reviews. It may even win over some new fans, possibly even some who had already made up their mind about this band.