Title: Ones and Sixes
Artiste: Low
Genre: Indie/Lo-Fi/Slowcore
Familiarity: Zero, though I have heard them mentioned
1. Gentle: Reminds me of the opening of
Dark Side of the Moon, with a slow, heartbeat drum, then it remains slow and measured, with the vocal melody very reminiscent of The Alan Parsons Project's “Gemini”. Very nice, very relaxing with somehow a sense of impending action.
2. No comprende: Another nice slow one, some very laconic guitar, quite stark at times. Nice female vocal.
3. Spanish translation: With a description like slowcore I guess it should come as no surprise that everything is a balladish style, but it's very nice. Back to the male vocal with some soft piano, though it's firing up a bit more now. Sort of a Country feel to this. Ends on some sumptuous piano.
4. Congregation: Like the bassline opening this, trips along nicely.
5. No end: This is more uptempo, with a dreampop edge about it.
6. Into you: Love the vocal harmonies here, and the minimalist percussion.
7. What part of me: This has a nice indie/dreampop feel
8. The innocents: Back to the female vocal, nice kind of crunching, slow bouncing percussion, kinda folky
9. Kid in the corner: Love the chunky, kind of eighties AOR guitar in this.
10. Lies: The melody in this one is really catchy, builds really well and kind of reminds me of a cross between Breathe, Snow Patrol and Tears For Fears.
11. Landslide: This has a kind of rawer REM edge to it. Love the way it goes into a long instrumental part in the fifth minute (runs for almost ten) and doesn't seem to drag or be overextended at all.
12. DJ: Lovely gentle closer too.
End result: A great album and very relaxing. I actually like both the vocal styles, and they can really turn it on when required. Very enjoyable.
So, Love or Hate? I was considering a True Love, but I don't think it quite made that sort of impression on me. Nevertheless, a definite
Love.