C’Mon

Spin (p.72) - "Goth-folk slow jam 'Especially Me' burns with private anger, while 'Witches' sounds like Jimi Hendrix thawing in the sun." Uncut (p.32) - Ranked #33 in Uncut's '50 Best Albums Of 2011' -- "A mightily effective summary of the Duluth trio's two-decade career..." Alternative Press (p.93) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk's honeyed, angelic harmonies are serene drones instead of obvious warnings, with the head-nodding folk gem 'You See Everything' emerging as the highlight." The Wire (p.60) - "Low's sound is pushed from the spacious to the truly anthemic when Nils Cline of Wilco adds lead guitar on 'Witches'....An interesting addition to an already impressive body of work." CMJ - "C'MON is a collection of modern-day hymns, appropriately recorded in a former Catholic church, that wrap around you and slow down the world." Paste (magazine) - "[A] song like 'Especially Me' might move at a stately waltz, with all of its harmonies in place, but it blisters with a seething heart." Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "C'MON sees them continue to hone their weird mix of post-rock dynamics with the song structures of classic alternative rock -- think Slint backing Neil Young circa ON THE BEACH."

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