[Photo by Dan Miller]
Calling The Low Anthem a four-piece would be a vast underestimation. Indeed, there are four of them: Ben Knox Miller, Jeff Prystowsky, Jocie Adams and (the very recent addition) Cyrus Scofield. But there are far more than four instruments at work in this music, and it’s the thickness of the sound and the warm tone of the vocals that make The Low Anthem the perfect soundtrack for this very second.
Hailing from Providence, R.I., The Low Anthem released Oh My God, Charlie Darwin in September, the follow-up to their 2007 debut, What the Crow Brings. Their rich acoustic sound is infused with country, rock, rock-a-billy, blues rhythms and Americana folk. They achieve a versatility from one track to the next that’s quite refreshing — each song has its own identity, its own personality. Vocalist/songwriter Miller can take his voice from low, calming and clear to raspy, loud and riotous in an instant. And they support it with a full-to-bursting texture, featuring clarinet, trumpet, harmonica and assorted percussion accoutrements on top of all the usual rock suspects.
At their most raucous, The Low Anthem sound like a folk-rock-blues jam band, shoutin’, hollerin’ and lettin’ it all hang out, probably at something called a shin-dig. But at their calmest, the music is introspective, evocative, melody-driven and full of all the emoting, intensity and pain you could ever need. And if all that isn’t enough for you, The Low Anthem loves you so much (and they haven’t even met you!) that two of their live shows can be downloaded in their entirety from their web site.
Here are two of songs from those sessions that depict the two sides of The Low Anthem explained above. Both from the album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, “Ticket Taker” is a somber ballad whereas “Home I’ll Never Be” brings them back to the ho-down.
MP3 Download – “Ticket Taker”
MP3 Download – “Home I’ll Never Be”
January 28th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
As nice as the sound of this band is, don’t be fooled. They claim to have met “in the summer baseball leagues”. These are Brown University graduates with rich parents who have taken on folk as a hipster wears skinny jeans. This is privilege masquerading as authenticity, plain and simple.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:52 am
Be fair, Joe. If they want to be folk Americana, and they play it as well as they do, more power to them. The argument about “authenticity” is about the least authentic thing I can imagine.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Outing a group for however they re-imagined themselves is ludicrous: the only thing that matters is their music. And their music is both reverent to American roots and to creating something new out of these roots. You gotta love this group.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
they ripped me off.