Singles Mixer #5: "Just Make It Stop" by Low

(THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARS ON THE TWIN CITIES BLOG NEWEST INDUSTRY)

You see I'm close to the edge, I'm at the end of my rope...

Hello again, music fans!  Welcome to Singles Mixer #5!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Singles Mixer columns, here's the scoop.  Whenever we find new singles from Minnesota bands we task one of our regular contributors with reviewing them.  As is Newest Industry policy, all singles are given a score of 1-5 (whereas albums are rated 1-10).

This time around we asked TCDroogsma to give us his thoughts on Low's new single "Just Make It Stop" from their upcoming album The Invisible Way.

TCDroogsy, thoughts?

How you feel about “Just Make It Stop” likely depends on how you feel about the recipe that Low has perfected over 20 years.

There are typically three things that define Low:

01. Instrumentation that makes as much use of the empty space as it does of the instruments.

02. Alan Sparhawk's distinctive, fragile vocals (often times complimented by Mimi Parker).

03. Lyrics that are somehow universal & personal, allowing the listener to find themselves in nearly every song.

“Just Make It Stop” only hits on one of these three ingredients. Lyrically, this song fits nicely into the Sparhawk/Parker canon. The lyrics are vague enough, with many of the couplets addressed to the “you” that always seems to be saying and doing things to fuck with people. Hell, even the titular “it” is never really addressed. The world? Time? The omnipotent, overbearing “you” (or, maybe, “them?”).

Regardless, when you sign up for the music of Low you sign up for that sort of lyrical content. There's something to be said for a band that can write songs that everybody can relate to in their own way.

Now, on to those other two ingredients.

I fully realize that Alan Sparhawk is not the “lead singer” of Low in the traditional sense. Still, when releasing the first single from a new album, it's a bold move to shelve the singer who is, to the casual fan, the voice of the band. I'm not complaining here, it's just a surprising left turn. I think Parker has a great voice and absolutely carries the song. Whether it's years of sharing the microphone with Sparhawk or my inability to separate new Low songs from my expectations, Parker manages the same aggressive fragility as her sometimes co-singer.

Which brings us to the instrumentation.

What's the one thing that casual indie rock fans know about Low? That they're slow and quiet. Obviously “Just Make It Stop” is neither of those things. It's actually a pretty rollicking affair considering who's playing the instruments.

Much has been made about the fact that The Invisible Way was produced by Jeff Tweedy. Admittedly, I didn't put a whole lot of stock into his involvement (though, as a Wilco & Low fan it did breed some curiosity). I was hoping that the lessons learned about spacing and silence during A Ghost Is Born and Summer Teeth would translate to “Low with a Wilco twist.” Rather, if this single is any example, we're being treated to “Low plays Wilco.” Rather than an experiment in organic, live silence (I feel so pretentious just typing that), “Just Make It Stop” has much more in common with the country-tinged feel of Being There.

I realize that this all makes me sound like a curmudgeon who wants his Low to sound like Low. There's a grain of truth to that, as I really do love the band's work. More accurately, I'm a bit disappointed that rather than pushing toward the sound explored on Drums & Guns (a masterpiece in my book), Low seems to be pushing toward sounding like everybody else. For a band that spent twenty years carving out a niche that was theirs and theirs alone, “Just Make It Stop” sounds more like compromise than evolution.

Final Score – 2.5/5

There you have it, folks!  TCDroogsma puts Low's new single "Just Make It Stop" square in the middle of the rankings.

For more information on Low's new album The Invisible Way and their upcoming tour, be sure to visit their website here.  They can also be found on Twitter (@LowTheBand).

For more TCDroogsma, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). He can also be found here on Newest Industry hosting our weekly podcast Flatbasset Radio.  Be sure to tune in each week, as winter's slowly causing him to lose his mind.

Of course Newest Industry also has a home on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1).  Give us a follow to stay up on the work being done by all of our contributors.  More importantly, we have a Facebook page here.  Stopping by and giving us a "Like" is a free and highly effective way to support the blog.