Low's 10th album begins with the familiar low beat of drums and strident harmonies of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker. But this one is a little different, perhaps because it's produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, who places Parker's vocal, and the piano, more centrally. The slow, dancing melody of Amethyst complements the choral beauty of Holy Ghost, and the jangling piano of So Blue is a joy that partly frames Just Make It Stop . Over the years Low have traversed many influences (here Clarence White is a graceful example), surveying The Byrds, pop culture, paranoia and percussion that wraps itself tightly around the guitar and piano. Sparhawk says The Invisible Way is about "intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archeology and love". It also happens to be a brilliant, subtle piece of work.
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Download: Clarence White, Just Make It Stop