Front Page Reviews & AIR

There is no reason on God’s green earth why you shouldn’t like The Low Anthem.  Their songs are beautiful and heartbreaking, their melodies haunting and true.  While some bands use unorthodox instrumentation as a gimmick, The Low Anthem’s eclectic instrumentation is meticulously crafted for optimum effect.  Their studio space is littered with dozens of instruments, both traditional and non-traditional, and the birth of each song or melody commences a search for the perfect instrument to interpret it, and if my ears are any judge, they succeed more often than they have any right to.  Some of the key colors on their diverse instrumental palette are the band members’ voices themselves, which blend together seamlessly into a haunting wave where individual voices are sometimes indistinguishable, and beside the point.

Their major label debut, Oh my God, Charlie Darwin, was a well-deserved critical success.  And their just-released follow-up, Smart Flesh, will satisfy admirers of that record and take them in some new directions as well.  The exploding orchestral swoon of “Boeing 737”, with its uplifting crescendos juxtaposed with foreboding 9/11 imagery, is as exhilarating as anything they’ve yet set to tape.  The opening track “Ghost Woman Blues” typifies their penchant for simple melodies and instrumentation accentuated by lush harmonies and the occasional clarinet solo.  “Golden Cattle” is another highlight, a ballad whose simplicity belies some pretty weighty lyrics.  Even the more simple songs like “Matter of Time” are accompanied by such bewitchingly tasteful instrumentation that they stand up to – and call out for – repeated listenings.

The album is not perfect.  The occasional use of “old-timey” language (see “Apothecary Love”) sounds forced and can be a little distracting.  And lead singer Ben Knox Miller’s voice, which is in general a beautiful instrument, at times sounds claustrophobically nasal (“Matter of Time”, “Smart Flesh”).  It is quite possible that this is the intended effect of a specific recording technique, but it also sounds like he may have simply had a cold that day.  In any case, these are minor quibbles with one of the best releases of the young year, an album that takes what can be a tired, clichéd genre and breathes heartfelt life into it.