Website © 2003 by Tyler Carey
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Capsule Review- Low - Trust
-by Christian B. Carey, Ph.D.
Low's latest full-length sees them making a conscious decision to expand their sonic palette while, for the most part, remaining true to their 'slowcore' roots. The enlistment of Tchad Blake (Paul McCartney, Crowded House, Tom Waits, etc. etc. etc.) to aid in mixing Trust serves to bring a variety of previously sublimated textures (particularly in the treble range) into the foreground, while in no way diminishing the richness of the group's melancholic sound. Low's previous record, Things We Lost in the Fire, while every bit as strong a release as Trust, ultimately lapsed into a bit of sameness that indicated the need for a change. While slowcore devotees may fear that Blake's participation will provide an unwelcome 'slickness,' rest assured, this is still very much the Deluth, Minnesota band that you have come to know, love, and mellow out to. And they still know how to write a new hook that you would swear you've heard before: 'La La La Song' practically requires sing- along participation. From tracks like the opener 'That's how you Sing Amazing Grace,' to the 8 minute feedback-drenched closer 'Shots & Ladders,' Low still primarily experiments with epic, SLOOOOoooooW song structures. Minimal coloristic variations and achingly plaintive vocal harmonies grasp the listener and draw them in for a long, rainy, midnight ride home on a gravel mountain road at 20 mph. Trust also finds Low experimenting with some livelier and/or shorter songs ('Canada' and 'Point of Disgust'), to good effect. None of them is so perky as to upset the applecart - they instead serve as a break to allow the listener to ready himself for the next languid, largo adventure.-Dr. Christian Carey. New Jersey. October 23, 2002.