The ever-prolific Low released two albums in 1999. The first, 'Secret Name', is typically Low; the second a seasonal mini-album. 'Secret Name' features the Low sound in full; well, as full as their sparse sound gets, featuring Alan Sparhawk's strained, aching Art Garfunkel-esque vocals, Mimi Parker's pure voice accompaniment plus slow, stately piano, bass, guitars and percussion. The best songs here are strangely chilling; sounding like good C&W records and yet at the same time not like anything else at all; 'I Remember', 'Lion/Lamb' and 'Two Step' all falling into this category. The only annoyance factor is the lack of variation with the whole setup and Sparhawk's voice in particular does tend to grate after listening to the whole album.
The ever-prolific Low released two albums in 1999. The first, 'Secret Name', is typically Low; the second a seasonal mini-album. 'Secret Name' features the Low sound in full; well, as full as their sparse sound gets, featuring Alan Sparhawk's strained, aching Art Garfunkel-esque vocals, Mimi Parker's pure voice accompaniment plus slow, stately piano, bass, guitars and percussion. The best songs here are strangely chilling; sounding like good C&W records and yet at the same time not like anything else at all; 'I Remember', 'Lion/Lamb' and 'Two Step' all falling into this category. The only annoyance factor is the lack of variation with the whole setup and Sparhawk's voice in particular does tend to grate after listening to the whole album.
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