Lowdown

Low takes the stage on September 11 at Tel Aviv's Barby.

By ASI GAL
Describing a band's style is one of the hardest jobs a music critic must task. Usually, we attempt to define with reference to other bands or styles. As such, I'll describe Low as PJ Harvey meets REM with a touch of Garth Brooks. Yeah, I know, not very helpful. The band's style is generally called "slowcore," but guitarist and vocalist Alan Sparhawk hates this cheesy description. Recently, he offered that the most appropriate description is anything based on the word minimal. At the moment, he doesn't think anybody's come up with something decent. Sparhawk, his wife and drummer Mimi Parker and bassist John Nichols established Low in 1993 as a sort of musical alternative to the ruling grunge scene of the time. In time, the bassist switched to Steve Garrington, with whom they still play today. Their first album, I Could Live in Hope, was released in 1994 and is considered one of the best of the '90s. Since, they've released eight more albums. In 2005 their song "California" from the The Great Destroyer album was chosen as song of the year by the alternative music show The Edge (Ha'katze) on Galgalatz. The band enjoys a solid reputation as an exciting performance band with a loyal, devoted and traveling fan base. Low has performed with such artists as Nick Cave and Radiohead. This current tour follows the release of You May Need a Murderer, a documentary about the band. Low takes the stage on September 11 at Tel Aviv's Barby, 52 Kibbutz Galuyot St. at 9 p.m. Tickets cost NIS 150-160. For more information call (03) 518-8123 or visit the band's website www.chairkickers.com.