Low released their 13th and final album, “HEY WHAT,” in Sept. 2021. It is the culmination of the band’s at-the-time experimentation with abrasive and spacey rock, as well as the heavy weight of the inevitable passing of Mimi Parker, one half of the band and the wife of Alan Sparhawk, the other half of Low.
The album is nothing short of beautiful and tear-jerking. The opener, “White Horses,” expresses insecurity about the future in its lyrics, both in terms of whether Parker will make it through her cancer, and whether there’s an afterlife. But it’s the hook of the song that sets the mood for the rest of the album: “Still, white horses take us home.”
The album takes possibly the most atmospheric approach of any Low album yet, with no drums (Parker’s instrument) being present. Instead, the instrumentals use heavily distorted guitars and electronics to create emotionally heavy soundscapes.
Songs such as “Days Like These” and “More” also borrow sounds from noise music, with the former’s second verse using amplified and abrasive guitar to emphasize defeated and depressive emotions, and the latter using a noise-rock-esque guitar riff paired with Parker’s contemplations on her life and her regrets.
The album closes with “The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off),” with the duo reflecting on whether treating Parker’s cancer and prolonging the inevitable is worth it. The song swells into a harmonizing landscape before, for one final time, Parker’s drums come dramatically into the fray louder than ever.
Mimi Parker passed away a little over a year after the album’s release on Nov. 5, 2022, and the band ended with her death. “HEY WHAT” caps off Low’s legacy in the most dramatic and poetic way possible and is one of their best works, if not their best. Though, it is a tough listen for the heart.
Rating: 10/10
