It’s exactly as the title says – Sparhawk of Low playing guitar. Simple, right? And amazing – his guitar burns through the air, sometimes creating waves built of empty space and sometimes searing like Eddie Van Halen’s (an allusion made concrete thro [+]It’s exactly as the title says – Sparhawk of Low playing guitar. Simple, right? And amazing – his guitar burns through the air, sometimes creating waves built of empty space and sometimes searing like Eddie Van Halen’s (an allusion made concrete through his cover of “Eruption”).
~ Dave Heaton, The Big Takeover
More guitar music comes from Alan Sparhawk of Low who on his album length solo debut Solo Guitar (Silber Records) blends glacially moving and somewhat minimalistic guitarscapes with strands of glistening noise. Quite often the tracks tend to start on a slow and intimate note before moving right into a tsunami of feedback, a wall of breathtaking dissonance. All in all it’s enough to transport one to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and back again in a matter of minutes.
~ Mats Gustafson, The Broken Face
Low's guitarist Alan Sparhawk finally decided to release a full-length. The thing is I was in for a pleasant shock when I first heard this record. This isn't a record of someone who's been in a rock band for the last fifteen years or so. The guy has made a conscious decision to break off from the past and start from scratch. Literally, what he's doing with this record is reinventing himself. Sounds this man comes up with are more reminiscent to sustained glory of Loren Connors than anything else. Long passages [two pieces clock in at the 13 and 18 minute marks] of blissful, drawn-out notes make for a listen that is as challenging as it is rewarding. To be fair, there's a lot more to Sparhawk's mastery than just long sustained notes. I hear references to Fahey's back-country blues in places as well as a more ambient version of the long-gone British trio Loop [though, admittedly, he's much more relaxed than anyone from Robert Hampson ever was on the guitar]. "How a Freighter Comes into the Harbor" softly establishes an eerie atmosphere that is full of elongated notes that beautifully drift on and on and on without a visible end, only near the end to be interrupted by a scraping sound resembling a freighter train's wheels scraping against rusty rails. What a beautifully descriptive sound this is. Like a perfect illustration in the dustbins of your mind, the sounds held here bring forth the pictures you forgot in the first place. As with all goo
|
 |
Genre/Tags: 
Ringtones
Full Tracks
