Low live review - St Georges Church Brighton 2008
Low live review of their gig at St Georges Church in Brighton on April 16th 2008.
who are low?
Low are a husband and wife duo from small town America (Duleth, Minnesota to be precise) who have been an influential part of the American alternative scene since they formed in 1993. They play slow subtle songs with a driven rhythmic beat. On stage tonight was Alan Sparhawk on lead guitar and vocals, his wife Mimi Parker on drums and vocals and recently arrived bassist Steve Garrington.
the music
Low sound almost exactly as they do on record in a live setting, their music is sparse and regimented on record and seems to translate very easily to a stage. Hard to think of a genre, some call them “slow-core” but thats a made up name and means very little. Low are certainly slow and reasonably quiet. Although there is a drummer she only has 2 small drums and a cymbal and plays almost exclusively with brushes. The experience is very gentle - and in a live setting - a little monotonous. Each song begins to sound much like the last although the quality of each track is very high. They did however play a mixture of tracks from all their albums which was nice.
4/5
on..stage presence and banter
Low have quite a limited stage presence. There are barely even any instruments or speakers. The three of them stand still, Mimi doesn’t even really look up, and get on with it. This suits the music well of course, and lots of chatter would disturb the mood somewhat, but it might also have broken some of the sameness.
That said, when its time for the encore its as if a different band have taken to the stage. There’s lots of chatting to the crowd, the entire band seem more relaxed and at ease and generally appear to be having a good time. This would suggest perhaps they are somewhat nervous performers, simply relieved at having played a good set. This would also account for why they rarely tour and when they do, perform a limited number of dates.
3/5
sound quality and venue
St Georges Church is a superb venue to see any band in. Over the past few months we’ve seen and reviewed Animal Collective, Iron and Wine, Adem and The Earlies here and all have sounded amazing. Churches have naturally good acoustics and St George’s is no exception. The view from upstairs is fantastic also, people on the ground floor are less well off. Best of all, unlike perhaps The Earlies, Low really suit a seated venue - apparantly their music is such that people sit on the floor if there are no seats at many of their gigs. Add to that the fact that they are practicing Mormons and the church seems even more apt.
5/5
low - sunflower performed live at St Georges church
the audience
The audience tonight were of varied ages, mainly in the 30 - 50 age group. During the main set people were quiet and attentive, applause was always given, but nobody got too over excited.. All in all, the audience’s mood matched the bands perfectly. Then, in the more relaxed encore the audience too relaxed and lots of people started shouting out requests, for ages! I’m not sure whether the band played any of the suggestions but the audience suddenly seemed like much more devoted fans than they had earlier.
4/5
the support
Support tonight came from the Portland Oregon based Helio Sequence. Like Low they were pretty sparse, just a drummer and a guitarist and singer, with a laptop providing the rest. They had a big sound though - a little like the Arcade Fire, in parts even The Chemical Brothers, soaring driving tunes. The drummer was amazing too and really got into the music, although he seemed to have his mouth constantly open for some reason.
Excellent for a support band.
4/5
overall
Great quality music, although the tracks do all blend into one another. The venue however lent itself perfectly to this band, you couldn’t wish for a better setting.
4/5
low - things we lost in the fire live at St Georges Church
watch a full length low gig from 2005
more about low
The official low website is very attractive and contains the usual stuff (gig listings, news etc) plus lots of videos and mp3s.
The low myspace lets you sample their new album.
Finally this video to the song Breaker from their latest album, Drums and Guns is amazing. See how fast this guy eats his cake!