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“Low always reach such beautiful highs” – NME
“Every single note matters.” – The Sunday Times
Big, simple, raw, and intimate.
Low’s crushingly-beautiful music is a series of dichotomies: stunning and menacing, gorgeous and frightening, giving and desperate, and ultimately, unbearably heavy and unbearably light. To borrow a phrase from their most recent album, it goes from one to six and back again.
For 20+ years, the songwriting duo of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (married, with kids) and, more recently, Steve Garrington, have created some of the most low-key high-profile music out there. “You know our M.O,”frontmanSparhawk has said with characteristic sparseness, “Slow, quiet, sometimes melancholy, and, we hope, sometimes pretty…”
For us here at Split Works, it’s hard to think of music that’s prettier. We’re enormously excited to welcome Low back to Shanghai, for a special one-night-only performance. Saturday 20 May, at the Bandai Namco Shanghai Base’s (formerly QSW Culture Centre)intimate Future House (formerly Q House). Presale tickets are 180 RMB, with a support act TBC.
They’ve released 12 albums, the latest 2015’s Ones and Sixes, and are currently signed to the influential Sub Pop label. Many of these dozen albums have been quiet and beautiful and silently menacing, but the ‘Low sound’ has taken some interesting detours.
They’ve veered into louder territory (2005’s The Great Destroyer) and glitchy, electronic darkness (2007’s Drums and Guns), and seem to have settled on time-honored strengths: slow-growing, minimal yet expansive songs that just beg for introspection.
“In our 20+ years of writing songs,” Sparhawk says about their latest album, “I’ve learned that no matter how escapist, divergent, or even transcendent the creative process feels, the result is more beholden to what is going on at the moment.”
That relevance is part of what makes Low special. A willingness to hold a mirror up – not just to one’s internal life, but the society they find themselves in. Their open-ended melodic stories are, above all, an experience, at once understandable and mysterious.
Saturday 20 May, at the Bandai Namco Shanghai Base Future House. Expect an evening of subterranean pop with a spectral spark.
Split Works Presents: LOW
【Shanghai】
PRE-SALE LINK: https://yoopay.cn/event/LOWshanghai
* Pre-sales end at 12 noon, May.20th, 2017
Tickets once sold cannot be refunded!
A Low Profile
Members: Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker, Steve Garrington
Official Website: www.chairkickers.com
Hometown: Duluth, MN
Born: 1993
Number of Studio Albums to Date: 12
Producers: Jeff Tweedy, Matt Beckley, Dave Fridmann, Steve Albini,Tchad Blake, Tom Herbers
Associated Record Labels: Sub Pop Records, Kranky Records, Vernon Yard Records, Rough Trade, Chairkickers
Mainstream Exposure: 2 Low songs, “Monkey” and “Silver Rider,” were covered by Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant(his cover of “Silver Rider” was later nominated for a Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance Grammy)
Touring Partners: Radiohead, Wilco, Nick Cave, Soul Coughing, Swans
The New Record: Ones and Sixes (2015; Sub Pop Records)
About Split Works:
Split Works has been rocking in the free (ish) world since 2006. Working with inspirational artists from across the globe, the good people at Split Works HQ have been a key contributor to the continued rise of China’s music scene.
Split Works has launched five music festivals and promoted over 400 tours to 30 Chinese cities, always striving to stay true to a familiar refrain: the music has to be special, every single time. From Godspeed You! Black Emperor to Sonic Youth, from Thee Oh Sees to Mac Demarco and Shabazz Palaces, from Black Rabbit to JUE and Wooozy to Concrete & Grass and More Music. We love music, we love China and we love you.
Split Works official website：www.spli-t.com
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“与他们的名字相反，Low总是代表着美的高度。”——NME
Bon Iver一般冰封而宽广的优美洪流
The Cure式的晦暗致郁悲歌
Low用他们缓慢的音符自如地穿梭其中，点亮梦境与现实之间的那簇微光
独立大厂Sub Pop旗下从来不缺高水准且具有先锋气质的乐队，慢核音乐的代表乐团Low即是其中之一。二十余年来Low坚持着极简的阵容和低调的创作理念，在缓慢而冷峻的音乐风格中奠定了其常青树一般的乐坛地位。2015年发行专辑《Ones and Sixes》之后首次来华，就出现了场场售罄的盛况。今年初夏，Split Works邀请Low再次来到上海带来专场演出——5月20日晚，万代南梦宫上海文化中心未来剧院(原浅水湾文化中心Q-House)，只此一场，重温被优美和宁静浸满的一夜。
来自寒冷的美国明尼苏达州，Alan Sparhawk和Mimi Parker夫妇于1993年组建了Low乐团，至今已发行12张正式专辑。他们音乐中缓慢的美感赋予了“慢核”（Slowcore）这一稀有的独立摇滚曲风最具代表性的声音。从他们的处女专辑《I Could Live in Hope》的曲目命名 上就能一窥Low去芜存菁，追求极致简约的美学理念，“Fear”、”Cut”、“Down”这些名动词以及它们旋律中的宁静深邃穿越二十多年，至今仍涤荡于心间。
1995年，Low曾经在一张致敬Joy Division的合集《A Means to An End》中翻唱了后者的金曲《Transmission》，他们缓慢苍白的标志性声响给这首原本激进的歌曲抹上了一层厚重的忧伤，将后朋克的悲情内核展露无遗。Low也正是在这个优美而惨淡的废墟上建立起了属于自己的幽暗王国。
从第一张专辑开始，Low便仿佛林中寻路般在一张张专辑中探索着前所未有的音乐境界。他们创作过《Do You Know How to Waltz》这样堪比后摇的长篇氛围音乐，也在2005年的专辑《The Great Destroyer》中注入激烈强劲的后朋克节奏，又或者2015年的最新专辑《Ones and Sixes》中稀疏破碎的电子脉冲。万变不离其宗的，是Low对于人类意识深处，那个最宁静的画面的不断追寻和演绎。
演出信息
[上海]
日期和时间：2017年5月20日，周六，20：30
场地：万代南梦宫上海文化中心，二楼未来剧院
(原浅水湾文化中心，二楼Q-House)
地址：上海，宜昌路179号，近江宁路
票价：180（预售）/220（现场）
购票链接：https://yoopay.cn/event/LOWshanghai
*预售将于2017年5月20日，中午12点结束！
本演出所有订单支付成功后，不做任何更改退换处理。（因不可抗力因素导致演出取消或延期情况除外）
关于Low
乐队成员：Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker, Steve Garrington
官方网站：www.chairkickers.com
所属厂牌：Sub Pop Records
最新专辑：Ones and Sixes
关于Split Works：
Split Works开功 是一家基于上海和北京的外资音乐演出公司，一直与诸多国际品牌进行合作，始终围绕音乐、品牌、创意和青年文化组织和推广各类活动。2006年成立至今，Split Works共推出了5个音乐节品牌、覆盖30座城市的400多场巡演，并一直坚信并实践着：每一次音乐都必须是独特的。从Godspeed You! Black Emperor 到Sonic Youth，从Thee Oh Sees到Mac Demarco和Shabazz Palaces，从“黑兔”到《觉》音乐+艺术节和“无解周末“。我们热爱音乐，我们热爱中国，我们爱你。
Split Works官网：https://spli-t.com[:]