Itās not really doing it for me at the moment either, sadly. I know what theyāve set out to do but not quite sure itās for me. Dunno, might just need a few more spins
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Theyāre such an incredible band. To be honest Ones and Sixes and The Invisible Way and some of CāMon didnāt really do it for me, I thought they might have lost a bit of the magic that was so evident on all the albums before that, but this new one is a different kettle of fish. They have a failsafe formula in that their vocal harmonies sound like a fucking crystallised version of ideal humanity, but what takes it to the next level is their willingness to experiment and a kind of dark lyrical abstraction a la Wire.
A message to all the Haterz: just relax and enjoy it. This is a massive album from a massive band 
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oh right now that youāve told me that i like it now
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:āD
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Dancing and Blood and Fly as a pair are absolutely stunning thoughā¦ hoping today is the day the rest clicks
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Really like the new Low album but wish their other albums had similar production?
Simply listen to your old Low albums and try the following technique in time with the gif below.
Volume:
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Iāve got a slightly dodgy speaker cable and was genuinely unsure if it was cutting out or not during one song
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I thought the NPR stream was fucked. Even beyond listening on crappy tablet speakers.
Iāve been trying to like this album but when listening to it I end up quitting and putting on Andy Stott instead and enjoying that a lot more.
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IT REMINDS HIM OF 22 A MILLION WHICH IS ALSO DREADFUL
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This is the first Low album I have ever heard and I like it.
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for the record this album isnāt dreadful at all, i just canāt see myself getting into it unfortunately
gone right off Bonny Bear over the years but 22 is still a big improvement over the second album tbf. still found it a bit annoying though and this album gives me some unfortunate flashbacks
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I remember having that with MBVās Loveless though - thought the tape was f*cked. Ended up being my favourite album of all time.
I thought Kim Gordon was taking the piss with her vocals on Dirty. Still my favourite SY album (real noise 
).
(I was around 16 at the time of these thoughā¦)
Many of the most āchallengingā albums Iāve listened to have ended up being my favourites. On my first run through of Double Negative nowā¦(fingers crossed)
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i still canāt past that tbh
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it seems really good based on a single listen
think my favourite low album might be drums and guns
these are some of my opinions of the band low
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#lowpinions
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I did honestly spend most of my first listen resisting the temptation to get up and check if there was fluff on the needle.
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Iāve found this one interesting. I absolutely love Low and everything theyāve done and the first few listens I thought it was the best thing theyāve done - found it devastating.
Listening again today when Iāve had the time, Iāve found it frustrating in the sense that it sounds like a great set of Low songs with āedgyā (distortion and auto-tune) production for the sake of it. At one point I could see them having a perfectly good song on tape and them twisting knobs and pushing switches randomly and saying āthatāll doā.
Not sure where I can see this one landing - could end up loving it, could be one for a certain state of mind or it could just end up as an interesting failed experiment. The production does add an apocalyptic element to it but if itās that the mood theyāre going for I wonder if they could have gone about it another way.
I find it odd that people find it easy to separate the noise and the āsongsā that are supposedly apart from it. It feels odd to me that those production choices are seen as something arbitrary and not as part of the piece as a whole. I can understand why those choices wouldnāt work for everyone but the static hums, grainy distortion and gut-thumping bass hits are as integral to the songs as anything else imo.
Iām not a big Low fan though - maybe it feels different when the more typical Low sound is embedded in your brain. But Iāve listened to it a lot over the weekend and Iām loving it more with every listen.
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I think as a long time listener of Low the production really stands out because it is quite a different change of direction for them. Their songwriting and the style hasnāt changed and yet the production has quite significantly (I think the producer gets a songwriting credit?) - therefore itās the most obvious aspect of the album.
Iām trying to decide then if the production actually adds to the classic Low songwriting or detracts from it as āwindow dressingā.
Maybe itās a bad example off the top of my head, but in my view Kid Aās electronic production style fundamentally changed how Radiohead wrote a lot of their songs on that album (Idioteque being the most obvious). It didnāt feel like OK Computer with keyboards. With these songs, I can see a version of a lot of them with guitars, bass and drums (in a āclassicā Low style) so Iām asking myself if the production truly adds to the songs or is distracting (especially with how abrasive the production can be). I suppose it depends on whether I listened to Low for their songwriting/lyrics or their musicianship/textures. Iām a big fan of the Invisible Way which is mostly just acoustic which suggests Iām in the former which is maybe why this album is taking itās time to settle with me.
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