Minnesota’s minimal miserabilists Low have released such a wealth of material that diving into it now is as daunting as attempting to start The Sopranos. But their output rewards commitment, gently shapeshifting with each album. Ones and Sixes, their 11th, moves their sound on from the warm guitars of 2013’s Jeff Tweedy-produced The Invisible Way into colder, starker territory, striking a balance between their majestic, slow-moving melancholy and harsher experimental noise. An icy ambience hums ominously on tracks such as Gentle, the post-rocking Spanish Translation and No Comprende, with its metallic tangs of menace. The Innocents goes further, as dramatic strums meet a distorted kick-drum crunch that Trent Reznor would salivate over. But for all its experimentation, there are some more radio-friendly tunes here, too, such as the upbeat What Part of Me, a duet about enduring relationships from Low’s husband-and-wife team, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, and the lush, 60s-pop harmonies of No End. Time to revisit that back catalogue and bask in its beautiful gloom.
