JAN WOOLF finds out where she came from and where she’s going amid Pete Townsend’s tribute to 1970s youth culture
Low-down on homeland insecurity
SUSAN DARLINGTON sees the US band address the state of a troubled nation
MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play
MARJORIE MAYO, JOHN GREEN and MARIA DUARTE review Sudan, Remember Us, From Hilde, With Love, The Road to Patagonia, and F1
MARIA DUARTE recommends the very human portrayal of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist in Putin’s Russia
This is a remarkable set of hop hip, salsa, reggae, soul, cumbia and traditional Mexican music finds TONY BURKE
MATTHEW HAWKINS enjoys the perverse jocularity, depraved glamour and inner turbulence of the Tate gallery’s tribute to Leigh Bowery
Low
Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
LOW may be about to celebrate 25 years as a band but as they gear up for the release of new album Double Negative in September there’s no sign of them mellowing.
The Duluth trio have treaded water for their last couple of albums, giving the impression that the best of their slow-core days are behind them. Yet, galvanised by the political turmoil in their US homeland, they’ve returned with a sound that’s dark and troubled.
The mood is set from the very start, with guitarist Alan Sparhawk intoning: “I’m tired of seeing things” on Quorum. Heavy bass notes, which make the venue’s fittings shudder, build around him and fracture into extended passages of distortion.
The sense of anger and imminent collapse is there too on closing number Fly, which ramps up the programming and loops that they experimented with on 2015’s Ones And Sixes. Drummer Mimi Parker’s vocals, the purity of which usually contrasts with the rawness of Sparhwak’s, are here brooding.
Even the numbers played from their back catalogue seem to have been selected specifically for their darkness. Pissing is a disordered exercise in restrained anger, with Sparhawk’s ragged squalls of guitar corralled by the repetitive solidity of the rhythm section, while Violent Past ranges between grungy sub-metal and deceptive calm.
The band seem to be in an uneasy place, with Sparhawk appearing on the point of breakdown when he laments that Donald Trump is due to visit his hometown. Their music is an uncomfortable reflection of the state of the world.
Low play Bristol, Manchester and Dublin in October, details: chairkickers.com.
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