No one has ever listened to
Low expecting boundless good cheer, but the dour beauty of their best work --
Secret Name,
Things We Lost in the Fire, and
Trust -- made something deeply rewarding out of the fragile sorrow of their spare melodies and
Alan Sparhawk and
Mimi Parker's voices. However, the bigger and more sonically diverse sound of
Low's two albums with producer
Dave Fridmann, The Great Destroyer and Drums and Guns, tended to reinforce the increasingly dark and chaotic tone of the group's songwriting, and what once seemed quietly sad now seemed more than a bit troubling. So it's both surprising and reassuring that
Low's ninth studio album,
C'mon, is also the most hopeful music they've released in quite some time. With the lovely tranquility of the opening tune, "Try to Sleep," and the easy charm of "You See Everything" (which sounds like some lost gem of mid-‘70s soft rock),
C'mon is as languid as ever for
Low while at the same time suggesting these musicians are looking for some light at the end of the tunnel.
C'mon was co-produced and mixed by
Matt Beckley, who has previously worked with
Katy Perry,
Avril Lavigne, and
Vanessa Hudgens; he's an odd choice to work with
Low, but thankfully, he's not afraid to let the album's darker and more contemplative songs sound as dramatic as they should, while adding just the right touch of polish on "Especially Me" and "Something's Turning Over," where the pop undercurrents that often run beneath
Sparhawk and
Parker's songs bob to the surface. (
Beckley also does fine work with
Sparhawk and
Parker's vocals, which are in splendid form here.)
C'mon, like
Low's albums with
Fridmann, stands apart from the stark minimalism of this band's earlier music, with a number of additional musicians contributing to the sessions (including
Wilco guitarist
Nels Cline and violinist
Caitlin Moe), but this material more successfully adds dynamics and color to
Low's melodies while retaining the power of their elemental approach. The dark clouds that have haunted
Low are still clearly visible on "Witches" and "$20," but the slow, noisy build to the climax of "Nothing But Heart" is a testament to the very real heart and soul behind their music, and
C'mon, while well short of sunny, is an album devoted to the search for answers amidst the darkness, and it's a powerful, deeply moving work from a truly singular band. ~ Mark Deming