Name: Double Negative
Brand: Low

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SP712501

Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

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Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2018-09-14

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Sub P­op

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

098787125016

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Total Cap

spcd1250

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Gatefold digipak with embossed cover.

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098787125023

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

<a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/adrianne-lenker-abysskiss">Adrianne Lenker - abysskiss </a>

An achingly beautiful record from <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/big-thief">Big Thief</a> vocalist, Adrianne Lenker. This is the Minnesota-born musician as she is, with very little else. Her voice is centre stage, which flickers, dancing and diving over the songs like an autumn sun on a frost-bitten morning. Lenker's ability to let you inside, to do away with the barrier between artist and listener is more striking than ever before. The gentle flutters whisper in your ear like secrets shared between you and her. The intimacy is so that every pick, every chord change carries with it an unmilled ripple and a chirp.

Recorded with Luke Temple of Here We Go Magic, the 10 songs were written in snatched moments on the relentless Big Thief tour. Lenker sounds raw, her lyrics organic. They escape her lungs with little scrutiny but plenty of emotion.

The album is understated and unassuming. It could have been discovered in a dusty cabin, penned by a long-lost folk-hero from the 60s. Adrianne serenades us with her songbook of gently reflective golden lullabies wistfully. It's delicate, enchanting and irresistible. A gorgeous and affecting listen especially if you have a tendency for likes of <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/jessica-pratt">Jessica Pratt</a>, <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/kath-bloom">Kath Bloom</a>, and <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/joan-baez">Joan Baez</a>.

2. The Goon Sax - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/the-goon-sax-we-re-not-talking">We're Not Talking</a>

3. Christine &amp; The Queens - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/christine-and-the-queens-chris">Chris</a>

4. Phosphorescent - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/phosphorescent-c-est-la-vie">C'est La Vie</a>

5. Cat Power - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/cat-power-wanderer">Wanderer</a>

6. Low - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/low-double-negative">Double Negative</a>

7. The Joy Formidable - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/the-joy-formidable-aaarth">AAARTH</a>

8. Yves Tumor - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/yves-tumor-safe-in-the-hands-of-love">Safe in the Hands of Love</a>

9. Mutual Benefit - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/mutual-benefit-thunder-follows-the-light">Thunder Follows the Light</a>

10. David August - <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/david-august-d-angelo">D'Angelo</a>

Albums of the Month - October 2018

Albums of the Year 2018

Low is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 by Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. Known for their slow, minimalist sound and haunting harmonies, Low has been a pioneering force in the genre of slowcore. With over two decades of music-making under their belt, the band has released numerous critically acclaimed albums and garnered a dedicated fan base worldwide.

Throughout their career, Low's music has been characterized by its introspective lyrics and ethereal melodies. Their unique blend of folk, rock, and experimental elements creates a captivating sonic landscape that draws listeners in with its raw emotion and atmospheric beauty.

Over the years, Low has consistently pushed boundaries and challenged conventions within the indie rock scene. Their ability to create deeply affecting songs that resonate with audiences on a profound level sets them apart as true artists. Whether performing live or recording in the studio, Low's performances are marked by an undeniable authenticity that leaves a lasting impact on all who experience their music.

Back In Stock

Low release eleven-song record Double Negative. Available on Sub Pop Limited Loser Edition Crystal Clear Colored Vinyl, Standard Black Vinyl, CD and Tape.

Mr and Mrs Low (aka Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker) plus bassist Steve Garrington release their new opus (after 25 years of still finding new things to do/play and be). Double Negative was made with the help of producer B.J. Burton (who’s worked with James Blake and Sylvan Esso)at Bon Iver’s home studio, April Base.

An atmospheric click and whirr of looped, distorted cyclic thrums. Desolate landscapes of musical detritus are taken and looped into new languorous glitchy beats and melancholy melodies. The industry of machines is turned into the heartbeat of a new song. The ghosts of a lost fairyland flit behind melodies that build and glow. An ominous drone like an end of the world siren turns to a siren’s song. Vibrant heartfelt vocals - a singer pouring out her everything like lifeblood from her heart. Melancholic and uplifting distorted and cumbersome but also light and elusive.

In 2018, Low will turn twenty-five. Since 1993, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker—the married couple whose heaven-and-earth harmonies have always held the band’s center—have pioneered a subgenre, shrugged off its strictures, recorded a Christmas classic, become a magnetic onstage force, and emerged as one of music’s most steadfast and vital vehicles for pulling light from our darkest emotional recesses. But Low will not commemorate its first quarter-century with mawkish nostalgia or safe runs through songbook favorites. Instead, in faithfully defiant fashion, Low will release its most brazen, abrasive (and, paradoxically, most empowering) album ever: Double Negative, an unflinching eleven-song quest through snarling static and shattering beats that somehow culminates in the brightest pop song of Low’s career.

To make Double Negative, Low reenlisted B.J. Burton, the quietly energetic and adventurous producer who has made records with James Blake, Sylvan Esso, and The Tallest Man on Earth in recent years while working as one of the go-to figures at Bon Iver’s home studio, April Base. Burton recorded Low’s last album, 2015’s Ones and Sixes, at April Base, adding might to many of its beats and squelch and frisson beneath many of its melodies.

This time, though, Sparhawk, Parker, and bassist Steve Garrington knew they wanted to go further with Burton and his palette of sounds, to see what someone who is, as Sparhawk puts it, “a hip-hop guy” could truly do to their music. Rather than obsessively write and rehearse at home in Duluth, Minnesota, they would often head southeast to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, arriving with sketches and ideas that they would work on for days with Burton. Band and producer became collaborative cowriters, building the pieces up and breaking them down and building them again until their purpose and force felt clear. As the world outside seemed to slide deeper into instability, Low repeated this process for the better part of two years, pondering the results during tours and breaks at home. They considered not only how the fragments fit together but also how, in the United States of 2018, they functioned as statements and salves.

Double Negative is, indeed, a record perfectly and painfully suited for our time. Loud and contentious and commanding, Low fights for the world by fighting against it. It begins in pure bedlam, with a beat built from a loop of ruptured noise waging war against the paired voices of Sparhawk and Parker the moment they begin to sing during the massive “Quorum.” For forty minutes, they indulge the battle, trying to be heard amid the noisy grain, sometimes winning and sometimes being tossed toward oblivion. In spite of the mounting noise, Sparhawk and Parker still sing. Or maybe they sing because of the noise. For Low, has there ever really been a difference?

CD - Gatefold Digipak with Embossed Cover.

LP - Black Vinyl housed in Embossed Jacket with Custom Dust Sleeve and Download.

LP+ - Sub Pop Limited Loser Edition Crystal Clear Colored Vinyl housed in Embossed Jacket with Custom Dust Sleeve and Download.

Tape - Four-panel J-card in clear case.

Double Negative

Music US

Buy Low - Double Negative (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.