Gig review: Low

FOR almost 20 years, Minnesotan trio Low have bewitched with their ascetic aesthetic. Applying only the most sparing use of finely wrought instrumentation and understated emotion across their downbeat catalogue, they have been able to create and sustain interest, atmosphere and dynamic within these simple parameters.

Any fears that they might have gone maximalist with the addition of a keyboard player to their line-up were allayed by this typically less-is-more set, where just the most frugal deployment of burnished psychedelic blues guitar from frontman Alan Sparhawk took on a starring role in a stealthy, controlled number.

Others would have succumbed to the temptation to team the reverberating, distorted guitar on the rumbling Nothing But Heart with the thundering drums that would take it into the realm of arena rock. Instead Mimi Parker, Sparhawk's wife and co-vocalist, favoured a modest, soft dusting of snare, cymbals and sonorous tom for a more intimate display of musical power.

Likewise, the temptation to vary the stately, mournful pace on the impeccably sad $20 or to declaim its "my love is for free" refrain loudly was resisted with fortitude.

The overall effect of this self-contained approach was haunting and hypnotic, with Monkey's soft refrain "tonight you will be mine" just tipping the balance away from romantic rapture towards sinister insistence.

The doomy mantra Majesty/Magic felt like more of a test, leaving one gasping for a tune. While Low may be a single-minded operation, they are not an awkward, perverse bunch, and they obliged with the gossamer Americana of Nightingale, one of their most beautiful harmonised numbers, with bonus guitar shimmer, and then the plaintive, soaring Something's Turning Over which carried a glint of early REM.