2021-02-02
Beautiful
I'll preface this by addressing the reviews I've seen elsewhere that really don't like this album on the basis of being so different from 'I Could Live In Hope' or 'Things We Lost In The Fire'. If you try to see this as the next great slowcore album, it will naturally fall short, because that's not what it's trying to be. It's like comparing a boat to a car. Trying to argue which is "better" is almost inherently flawed as a concept, so it's better to try and appreciate each as it is.
If you can do that, you can love this album. Songs 'Monkey', 'Everybody's Song' and 'On the Edge Of' manage to retain the unnerving and at times fearful themes of previous albums, but with the rarely seen before freedom to add a layer of harsher sound, adding aggression where earlier tracks had none. For example, 'Embrace' had the same uncomfortable feelings and frightening lyrics, but the atmosphere created was almost 100% fear-based, so it's refreshing to hear the more aggressive instrumentation.
It isn't overused though, with 'Walk into the Sea' and 'When I Go Deaf' providing that beautiful sweetness of sorrow that I expect from Low. The tragic 'Death of a Salesman' is so quiet and intimate that it feels as if you're the only confidant the protagonist trusts to share his story with. As a side note, the final lines can make me cry, which always makes me appreciate a song more.
'Just Stand Back' and 'California' add a more accessible entry into this rich and varied album, but their appeal is much more than just being the most inoffensive, and while easy to enjoy, are still complex and rewarding to re listen to
Despite so many listens over the two years I've owned the album, 'Everybody's Song' has never stuck with me. It's still a good song, nothing on this album is bad, but along with 'Cue the Strings' and 'Step' it makes up the lower tier of the album. To my ears, the issue with both 'Cue the Strings' and 'Step' is one of energy, they both feel slightly too flat, not upbeat or singable enough to work with 'California' nor as tormented as 'On the Edge Of'. On a lesser album I wouldn't have cared, but other songs set the bar so high, that these three always grate slightly with me.
When I say the bar is set high, I mostly am crediting 'Broadway', 'Silver Rider' and 'Pissing', each of which adds a unique and powerful layer to this album, and it's always one of these that draws me back. 'Silver Rider' and 'Broadway' ache with stunning and poetic lyricism and instrumentals, all of which pieces so wonderfully together, that in both cases makes me feel things I can't put words to, and miss things I've never experienced. 'Pissing' is simply a triumph in climactic songwriting, and it is still my favourite climactic song, even managing to keep its crown when I discovered 'I Know the End' by Phoebe Bridgers.
The Great Destroyer isn't quite perfect, but it's close.