filed under Daily Dose
The Low Anthem Master Their Craft
12:50PM ON
08/08/2008
BY
Eric Smith
It’s not often you attend a political fundraiser where the entertainment is a raggedy be-hatted trio of lovable hobos who blast though clanging, joyous numbers with choruses like “The skyline’s on fire!” and filter a haunting cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On a Wire” through a warm bath of electric hum. The Low Anthem can be both gentle and calamitous at once, and on their new Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, they expand on what what NPR referred to as their “hand-made songs” and deliver a devastatingly beautiful record of love, death, and the death of love painstakingly infused with the sound of icy coastal waters and vast, sun soaked horizons.
The album was recorded on wintry Block Island this past January and the atmosphere of that bleak locale surely lent a windswept and fatally romantic aura to the proceedings as the songs are utterly drowned in death and desolation yet hope seems to magically spring up; “If your pilot light should die/do not quake and do not bark/you will find the spark” from the delicate and plaintive “Don’t Tremble”, and “This island shall be shackled to her waters/here we vow to never change” from “Cage The Songbird”.
The album’s creaking, almost entirely acoustic sound is drenched in softly weezing harmonium, harmonica and clarinet, rickety upright bass, banjo and drums and the graceful drunken swoon of gorgeous backing vocals from multi-instrumentalists Jeff Prystowsky and Jocie Adams.
And the singing, Jesus Christ the singing. Songwriter and vocalist Ben Knox Miller is so great at alternating between flinty, desperate and tender crooning (on the opening twin salvos “Charlie Darwin” and the utterly heartbreaking “To Ohio”) and the raw throated howling of the aforementioned “The skyline’s on fire!” chorus wail from “The Horizon is a Beltway.” With this record Mr. Miller has proved himself the best singer in Providence, and probably the best songwriter too.
Don’t deny yourself this record, and make sure you see The Low Anthem before they break our hearts and move to greener pastures.
August 8th, 2008 at 2:38PM
Annie Says:
Holy toledo! What a great review (of a great band).
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November 22nd, 2008 at 4:34PM
The Low Anthem at Stone Soup tonight | Providence Daily Dose Says:
[...] Eric’s terrific review of The Low Anthem has proven prophetic. Since their last local show in September (I’m sure they don’t begrudge the masses for not coming out in Pawtucket that day; it was raining like hell and we caught colds), The Low Anthem has toured like 10 states; been featured as emerging artists on WorldCafe, NPR, TripWire, and in Paste, Performing Songwriter, and Performer magazines; had a free iTunes discovery download; and been nominated as “best new act” for the Boston Music Awards (still accepting votes). [...]
December 14th, 2008 at 11:24PM
Julie Says:
Saw them in Montreal last night opening for Rachael Yamagata and was blown away! They are so talented and seem like old souls. Spoke to Ben and Jocie after the show–they are so down-to-earth and approachable.
Bought their latest cd and immediately played it on the car ride home. Just love it!
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